


Heroes of Spherus Magna

by Omicron_The_IceQueen



Category: Bionicle - All Media Types, Hero Factory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-15
Updated: 2014-03-22
Packaged: 2018-01-15 19:04:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 45,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1315861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omicron_The_IceQueen/pseuds/Omicron_The_IceQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With distress signals coming from a odd planet (one in the back water of the known galaxy), mechs are sent to investigate, and of coarse help. Only to be shot down by unknown forces, they must now work together with the natives, these Bionicle, to not only find out who baited them, but how to get back off the planet safely... and what's that in the shadow there?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Not so soft landing

**Author's Note:**

> Co-Authored by Dragon Claw92
> 
> Queen’s notes: Maybe a bit of a rough start this chapter, but DC and I were experimenting with this cross over concept. And getting used to each other in writing! Hope you had as much fun reading about the coming adventures as we did writing.
> 
> I also wanted to give a big thank you to Dragon Claw for doing this with me, as the distraction to focus on this while I was having some big family issues. even for bits at a time helped out more than you know sweetie to escape reality. And for putting up with me when I passed out at night mid post~
> 
> Dragon’s notes: Like Omicron said, it was a bit of a rough start, but still a lot of fun. I can only hope that you enjoy it as much as we have, and I can guarantee that this is only the beginning of a grand adventure. Thanks for reading, and thanks to Omicron for the great idea to start this story off.

"Alright Heroes, we're entering the atmosphere now."

Alpha Team's leader sounded grim and determined, as was his usual, as he said this, and whilst the others on board got prepared, the white colored veteran focused on the target planet ahead. So far, procedure was going according to plan, and atmosphere entry was going smoothly...

Right up until the vehicle gave a violent shudder, and a loud groan. A panicky sounding Surge spoke from somewhere in the back. "W-was that supposed to happen?!"

"Hang on to something." Was Stormer's response, his optics seeming to narrow as his grip on the steering column tightened.

What happened next was hard to explain. At one point, things seemed to be fine again, but in a matter of seconds, Stormer found himself -and the whole cockpit- breaking off from the rest of the ship and veering far off course from where he was supposed to go. Moments later, everything seemed to black out...

He wasn't sure how long it took for his systems to get back online, but once they did, he groaned quietly and extricated himself from the wreckage, pulling himself free and forcing himself out of the driver's seat. Once he got out of the warped metal that had once been the cockpit, however, Stormer found himself utterly lost. His blue optics scanned around in confusion and uncertainty, and judging by what he was seeing, his team wasn't anywhere near where he ended up. One thing was certain though; his armor was now painted in mud.

Something squeaked off to the side of Stormer, and he turned to his right to see there was a quick motion. Like someone ducking down out of sight behind one of the many clusters of reeds and other smaller trees.

Most of the trees around (that were still standing after the crash), seemed odd. All giving the impression of only being saplings. Very few growing up higher than the mech's own seven foot height. There was a hint of a look that things other than weeds and reeds were planted in the nearly swamp like landscape… no not a swap, the water that was visible over the edge of the island where he crashed was oddly clear, and looked drinkable for cooling systems.

But there was to his right the possibility of someone there. Either A) one of the reasons for the distress call that brought the heroes, or B) a native (that could also be related to option A), or C) a wild beastie that may recover from the shock of being figuratively run over, than become grumpy at him.

Very little ever escaped Stormer's attention, and such details as squeaking and movement were things he seldom left uninvestigated. Instinctively, his hand went for his weapon, though considering the nasty crash, he soon discovered that, not only was he without a team, he was also without a working weapon. Frowning at this discovery, he took a moment to get himself up onto the wreckage, deciding that he'd rather have the higher ground so he could at least see better if he needed it. "Who's there?" He asked loudly, his voice firm even though his weapon, and armor, were going to need a bit of repair.

The squeak was back, the person- it had the shape of a mecha and metallic blue armor was just visible admits the reeds. Whoever or whatever it was, was staying put, the mech likely having to personally go see.

Bold as brass despite being white as snow... well, formerly white as snow, Stormer took this as his cue to investigate, and got down off the wreckage, cautiously moving towards where he'd caught a glimpse of the blue armor. "Hello? Who's out there?" Still, his voice sounded firm and authoritative, though as time went past Stormer was starting to wonder if he really had much grounds to use such a voice. He didn't exactly have much to defend himself with other than what training he'd gotten in unarmed combat.

Then suddenly, all at once the mech almost stepped on who he was looking for.

Giving a frightened yip and half scream that sounded somehow a bit reptilian, the being scrabbled out from almost under Stormer's feet, running into a thicker cluster or reeds and partly up it. Shivering and frightened, wide (glowing!) tri-colored eyes looked up at the mech. At first glance the blue colored being was another mecha, but as he watched in the following seconds, Stormer could see the native...breathing.

Needless to say, the veteran Hero jumped backwards, his blue optics seeming to widen in surprise at this sudden occurrence. Caught off guard, he ended up tripping over his own feet and tumbling over onto his rear end, though he quickly got up and took another step or two back. For the first moment or two, he just stared at the unusual being, not sure quite how to approach the situation.

Without really having a full grasp of what he was saying at the time, he blithered something he normally wouldn't have ever said. "...what are you?"

Catching his blunder, he shook his head and quickly corrected himself. "Who are you?" He knew it was a bit late to take words back, but at least he could try to seem civilized. He was the leader of Alpha Team, after all; he had to seem more courteous than what his first question had implied.

Wide eyes (the backdrop a soft red, the inner ring orange and the center a golden shade) just stared back at the mech, the owner had a slim build that gave a distinct female look. There was darkly tanned hide under the thin seeming over armor, interrogated perfectly in a balance of flesh and mechanical. A strange mask like thing was clinging strapless to her face...or was apart of the face...

All and all, this being radiated helplessness and fear more than anything else. Even huddled against the reeds like she was, the native wouldn't come up to the mech's chest.

The Hero was presently at a loss of what to do now. He couldn't recall seeing anything quite like this creature before, and the more he thought about it, the more confused he got. "...can you speak?" He inquired, trying to sound a little friendlier than his usual tone did. "Or even understand what I'm saying?" Now he was starting to consider trying to find out if anything in the cockpit had survived the crash, namely something that could help him with the situation he presently found himself in.

He could only hope that Surge had survived, and hadn't made a complete fool of himself by now.

"Cam'i tasa...?" A female voice shyly asked from the native, lowering the protective hands and staring up at the standing mech. "Kito ma Agoi?"

Stormer's expression showed mild bewilderment. "...I beg your pardon?" He responded, clearly not understanding quite what was being expressed. "I didn't quite catch what you said."

The truth was he fully did catch it, but he had no idea what she meant. Now was one of those times where he wished Breez had been there to help him out; she was the master linguist of his team, not him.

"Kito...kita mu Agoi?" The girl tried again, still clearly intimidated by the towering mech.

By this point, Stormer was just too confused to even know what to do. "Ehm... one moment." He paused before holding a finger up to try and imply that he needed a second, and then turned, heading back to the wreckage of the cockpit and managing to squeeze himself back inside. Once in there, he rooted around a bit, frowning as he found various devices that had been destroyed, which would've been good to have right around now.

Thankfully though, luck was somewhat on his side, because he found a translation device. It wasn't really in the best shape, but at least it was functioning with borderline decency. Vaguely satisfied, Stormer clambered back out of the wreck and looked around, just in case the female had moved, or (the thought that was niggling at the back of his mind) called in something to get rid of him in a less-than-polite way.

She hadn't, the native of this world evidently had a high dose of curiosity once semi-sure that the Hero wasn't going to eat her. She had followed Stormer almost to the crashed ship, giving it a long look. Not scared of it, but though she had no idea where it came form, something in the tri-colored eyes said she wasn't clueless to flying machines. Standing now as well, if shuffling her feet, the blue girl wasn't more than five feet, and slim in build. She had a fair sized chest, but given the rest of her almost perfect streamlined make up and armor... and all the water around.

This would be one impressive swimmer to say the least.

The Hero blinked on seeing her that close by, but managed a vague smile of sorts as he indicated the device in his hand. He moved a bit closer to her again now, taking in her features and making a mental note of her build type, just in case such information would be needed later.

"This ought to help." He remarked, more to himself than to the unusual female. Turning his optics to the device, he fussed with it a bit before any lights actually flickered on, and he frowned mildly when he took full notice of the cracks on the outer casing. "...well that isn't good." Shaking his head, he then looked curiously at the girl before him, hoping that she'd say something else, and hoping that the translator would have enough information in it to know at least what language she spoke.

"…cerou…" She muttered, and there was no need for a translation, the tone alone with the look he was getting more than hinted that he's little device was just called weird.

"...well this isn't working." Stormer muttered, frowning at the device in his hand again before sighing. It wasn't a defeated sounding sigh though; Stormer was too strong a Hero to give up that easily. Glancing back at the native, he remarked blandly. "Well, do you have any ideas? Because this is the best I have, and even then it isn't a good one."

The native girl was still giving him an odd look, but now shifting her gaze between his face and the device. She tilted her head and a light seem to ding on before the biomechanical being held her hands out for the thing.

Now the veteran seemed to be in a bit of a better mood and, with a small nod, carefully held the damaged object out for her to take. Every ounce of his circuitry was hoping this plan worked; without this, he'd be utterly doomed. At least, it felt like that would be the case unless some other form of translation miraculously showed up.

The girl seemed to have knowledge of some mechanics at least as she turned the device around in her hands. Then with a glance up at the mech crouched down, looking at him again as she spoke. Not just a few words but apparent full terms and more, with a pattern and a flowing accent. She pointed to Stormer's own feet… no the ground. The impression of 'this might be a while' hanging in the air.

Despite not being fully sure of what she was meaning, the Hero got the gist of what she meant, and nodded, glancing around before clambering back up on top of the wrecked cockpit to take another look around. The last thing he wanted, or needed, was for them to get attacked when something beneficial was about to -potentially- be done.

"…cerou…" the word drifted up to Stormer, the girl having intended to have him just sit down, as there was no predator rahi in these new lands. They hadn't been made yet after all.

The bot looked down at her curiously, not really sure what she meant, but climbing down anyway and settling himself where he was, his expression showing mild confusion. "I still have no idea what that means." He remarked, deciding it was best not to say words he didn't know the meaning of, just in case he might make things worse.

She seemed to be thinking the same thing about what the mech was saying, but was trying to keep up a conversation, or narration as she carefully opened the translation device. Blunted but very nimble fingers gently inspected the inner workings, she dipped into a shimmer of air at her side (Sub-space!) to grab a leather bundle of tools. Some things were universal in a tool kit, and the female used a brush and pick. To clean then pry loose the energy pack and head tilted at the half squished thing.

"Macku," She said looking up at the mech, then handed him the tiny energy pack, saying something with a questioning inflection. Did he have another of these? If not and energy stone might work… or a chip of an energy stone.

Stormer tilted his head at that, not sure quite what she was meaning. "... Macku?" He repeated, his tone showing that he was confused. He then eyed the energy pack and grimaced. He'd seen several of those broken in the cockpit. He knew where he could get a piece of energy stone, but... did he want to do that right off? Hesitating, he held up his finger again to indicate that he wanted a moment, and then crawled back into the cockpit.

His fears were proven correct; every energy pack that had been in the cockpit was now broken. "Scrap..." He muttered quietly, his optics straying from the broken energy packs to his Hero Core's cover plate. Grimacing as he thought it over, he eventually took his core plate off and glanced around for something he could use to chip a tiny part of his Core off. "This is going to hurt..."


	2. Gift of speech

By the time he actually returned to Macku, the mech replaced his core plate, and looked as though he were in severe pain. Even with this though, he proceeded back over to Macku and sat down, holding out the glowing gold shard that he'd gotten off of his Core. "Will this work?" He inquired, keeping his voice steady despite the fact that taking part of his Core off hurt like crazy.

Macku looked up from... well, it was flakes of some kind of stone on animal hide and giving off an energy field as they charged in the sun. She tilted her head at the mech, not understanding but rocked up onto her knees to reach of the chip he offered.

Stormer carefully handed the shard over, turning his gaze to his Hero Core cover plate and grimacing. Sure, it was only a little bit off his Core, but he had no idea if this would alter his performance later or not. Small price to pay, he decided, considering this was likely his one and only chance to actually know what was being talked about. "Hopefully this will work."

Catching the care he was using, the native leaned over and shyly tugged on the mech's armor to get him to sit down by her. She inspected the chip from every possible angle, not having seen anything like it before.

The veteran blinked when she tugged on his armor, but seemed to catch the hint and nodded as he sat down beside her, his glowing blue optics watching as she looked over the glowing, orange-yellow shard. Even though he knew what it is, he couldn't help but admire it. After all, this was the substance that was keeping him 'alive', as it were. Sure, he was -essentially- just a robot, but as he'd heard mentioned so many times by his co-workers, and even his own team; the Core was what made a Hero who they really were.

Macku hummed and chirped, chatting now as she worked on making the chip the right shape- how she was able to was a mystery.

As much as he didn't have a clue what she was saying, Stormer couldn't help but smile a little as he listened to Macku talk. It made him wonder if she even remembered he didn't even know what language she was speaking, let alone what she was saying in it. "You like talking with people, don't you?" He inquired, seeming rather entertained by her. Perhaps she reminded him of some of the other Heroes he worked with before the crash.

The native biomechanical being gave what might be a smile as she started to close the device up and handed it back to the mech. Macku didn't know the settings after all.

It took the translator device a bit, but soon it began to calculate what she was saying and register what language it was. After a minute or two of her chattering, it began to voice what she was saying in words he could understand... well, some of her words. The damaged device appeared to be having trouble with some of the words.

Despite this though, Stormer couldn't help but smile at her. "It's working." He remarked, sounding relieved, though he paused and glanced at the device with curiosity as he heard what sounded like his own voice, speaking words he didn't really understand.

The native girl leaned away from the device, weirded out by it as it talked with his voice, "Mata Nui...not a translation stone after all..."

Stormer raised an 'eyebrow' ridge, his expression showing curiosity at her reaction, and wondering what she'd think when she figured out that it was using what sounded to be her voice to speak back to him. "... Mata Nui?" He inquired. "Translation stone? I don't know what those are."

"Mata Nui is great spirit," Macku said, viva the translation device. "He made our world."

The veteran considered that a bit before nodding. "Ah. That is good to know." He cringed a little as it crackled, cutting out what was probably the 'that is' and 'to' part of what he said. Even still though, the point would get across reasonably well.

The girl leaned over and poked the device, "Weird..."

Suppressing a faint laugh, Stormer nodded. "It's supposed to sound better than this." He remarked, pausing and sighing as it cut out another part of what he said. He figured the basic point got across all the same.

"Are you an Agori?" Macku asked, poking the Hero's nearer foot and then edging back.

He wasn't sure what an Agori was, but at least that helped him answer the question. Unphased by her poking, he shook his head and remarked. "I don't know what an Agori is. I'm..." He paused, thinking about how he should answer it. Would the native even know what Hero Factory was? "...different."

"Yeah, really different," the girl was edging back closer, with the fear bled away all this time she looked more and more like she wanted to investigate. More than likely the natives of this world were more touch oriented as she poked him again.

Though she looked about ready to climb into the Hero's lap!

"I'm Macku, a Ga-Matoran," She introduced herself better now.

Stormer took note of her inquisitiveness and hoped that she wouldn't actually climb into his lap, though by this point there really wasn't much to stop her other than him seeming a little uncomfortable with the theory of it. "I am Preston Stormer, a..." He trailed off again. "... just call me Stormer, and we'll leave it at that."

Macku would probably have to do some more poking to make him say what he was.

"A what," Macku asked, quick to pick that up, "Why did your craft thing fall on my boat? I hope you didn't mean to but it doesn't look like you did. Are you like a Vakii? But you can't be, you're talking- though through a weird the funny thing- are you from another part of Bara Magna?"

The veteran grimaced a little, trying to cover his fumble by asking. "What is a Vahki? I haven't heard of one of those before." He paused before adding. "And... this is Bara Magna, I presume?" Glancing around, he realized that the cockpit had, in fact, crushed a boat, and grimaced a little. "...my landing was an accident. I had intended on something more... subtle. Your boat was not my target."

He merely hoped his attempt to hide from the question would be a success.

"Since it seems in pieces I would assume its an accident," Macku blinked, the inner set of her lids, before getting a little closer, "Yes this is Spherus, well, its our world. These planes don't have a name yet- they weren't made long ago."

"Oh?" He inquired, seeming rather curious about that. "Care to explain a little further? I was sent here for... for..." He paused now. What was he sent there for anyway? Groaning, he shook his head. "I can't recall. At any rate, I will eventually. Is this planet very new?"

"The magna is old, just put back together." Macku corrected, touching Stormer's arm, then his hand, looking at the differences between his and hers. She was all sorts of shades of interested, "You can't remember, that's horrible! Do you remember what you are?"

"Ah, I see." Stormer replied. He then shook his head. "I remember what I am, but what my world calls me might not be what your world would call me. It's... it's a bit complicated."

"Well, different cultures have different meanings, its okay." Macku coaxed, "I won't make fun of you, promise!"

Stormer sighed in defeat. "Very well then. Back home, and on several of the planets near there, I am called a Hero." He tapped his core plate. "I was made at a place called Hero Factory, and it's my job to catch villains and smooth over problems."

The biomechanical girl blinked at him a few times, then blinked at the translation device in confusion. "Hee...herou?" Macku tried to repeat Stormer's own word that he used. Puzzled at what the translator said. "Hero?" Then said, "'Toa?'"

Stormer shook his head. "I don't know what a Toa is. I'm just called a Hero, and have fancy gear to help me out." He glanced regretfully at his broken ice launcher. "...had fancy gear."

"That's armor?" Macku asked, poking the broken armor, and then got a little closer to feel over it with a healer's care and eye.

The veteran glanced at where she poked him, and nodded. "Yes. It's not exactly in good shape thanks to the crash, but I think it protected my components well enough that nothing was severely damaged, so that's always a plus."

Through a gap in a split along part of his wrist guard plates, Macku would've been able to see several wires and cables wrapped around an inner framework, encased by a thinner under armor that looked like it would need a bit of repair as well. There seemed to be nothing organic about Stormer in the slightest. In truth, there really wasn't anything soft and squishy on him, other than, perhaps, a bit of mud.

"You are like a Vahki...but...not," The native marveled, any hesitating gone as she crawled onto the bigger mech, checking any and every crack or stress mark in his armor. As a Ga-Matoran from the island Mata Nui to 'start' with, all of her former villagers had at least advanced healing and mechanic training.

Needless to say, Stormer wasn't exactly happy about having the Matoran crawl on him, but decided not to fuss about it. "...ehm... having fun?" He inquired, though he paused after a moment and added. "What is a Vahki anyway?"

The girl gave a happy squeak seemed to say that Macku was, and it gave the impression the smaller being maybe was younger than the Hero first thought she was.

"Vahki are old robotic guards, but you feel alive." Macku explained.

The veteran couldn't help but be amused by her squeaking noise, and his displeasure at her up-close-and-personal method of curiosity seemed to fade a bit. "Robotic guards?" He repeated, seeming rather intrigued. "...how do I feel alive compared to them?"

"You're warm... and if feels like elemental energy...little strange its just that though." Macku blinked at Stormer's chest at the emblem he'd pointed out before. She chirped as if going 'huh...' in her kind's equivalent.

Stormer thought that over a bit before figuring out what the source was that would cause him to be that way. "Ah... here." Deciding there wouldn't be much harm in doing so presently, he reached up and carefully took off the plate covering his Hero Core, exposing the cylindrical, glowing mineral for Macku to see. One look at it would likely be enough to tell her this was what he got the energy shard for the translator off of.

"This is a Hero Core." He explained. "My heart, in a way. Without this, I wouldn't exist. See, we heroes might have our bodies built and manufactured like machines, but it's our Hero Cores that make us who we really are. It's what separates us from everyone else in our galaxy." He grimaced a little as he eyed the crack and indent where the shard had been broken off. "If a Hero were to ever lose their Core, or if the charge ever fully drained... well, we'd die. Sure, a new Core could be put in, but it wouldn't be the same. We just wouldn't be who we used to."

Macku held her hand over, but not too close, a light coming on with understanding. This was like elemental energy, but also had the distinct look of a heart lights and heart stones of her world. The thought had Macku touching her own heart light.

"It's like a Toa's heart light." She said aloud.

"Heart light?" Stormer inquired, seeming rather curious as he looked from Macku's face to the glowing dot that indicated where her own heart light was. "So... you and the Toa have something similar to Hero Cores?" After a little while, he put his core plate back on, as it was a natural instinct for him to keep his Core covered and protected at all times. After all, he'd seen a particular villain that could remove a Core as easy as shoplifting a small object.

"All Bionicle, Agori and Glatoran have a heart light or heart stone." Macku said, "Toa stones are much stronger, they are our protectors and guardians. They are the elements."

That gave him reason to pause for a moment. "...Elements?" He repeated, his gaze wandering to his broken ice launcher. "...like my team... hm... well that's interesting." He looked back at Macku. "Is it only elemental weapons, or... is it like actual elemental wielding?"

"Toa _are_ the elemental guardians," Macku insisted, her fallowing explanation stopped half way through, looking back at the translation device that wasn't able to keep up. She looked back up into Stormer's blue optics, not sure how to explain.

Stormer sighed as he looked at the device. "Too bad this thing is broken," He muttered. "It would be a lot easier if it was in good repair." He glanced back at the sky almost wistfully. "Too bad Nex isn't here... No matter though." He looked back at Macku and shrugged slightly, showing he wasn't fully sure how to work around the issue of the translation device either.

"Need a translation stone," Macku insisted, "Their made out of Kanoka disks. Much better." she looked around, pouted at her rather squished boat then looked back up, "...can you swim?"

The mech paused to consider that a moment. "I... can." He mused thoughtfully. "I might be a bit slow at it though; I don't have the sort of gear that would make it an easy task, and with my armor cracked, it might be a risky move to do that, but if that's what we have to do, then that's what will have to be done."

"We're a few bios away from the nearest suva, more from a Koro...but the suva should have a boat or we can call a Toa for help." Macku looked at the water ways then at the mech, "you can probably walk most of the way, its not that deep."

Hearing that he could walk most of the way seemed to help him feel better about the situation. "That works for me then. The less water I get through my armor, the better off I'll be." He decided not to ask how far a bios was; he probably wouldn't have anything to compare length to as it was.

"...its still deeper than my head," Macku felt the need to point out as she reluctantly got of the mech's lap, "I hope it won't hurt you."

That little reminder appeared to make Stormer uncertain again, and as she got off, he looked over his armor to figure out where all the dangerous gaps were. "Hm... well, I'll just have to be careful then, won't I? I don't think I'll be running too many risks."

...well, he hoped he wouldn't be running any risks. He wasn't showing it, but he was quite concerned about some of the cracks in his armor; more was exposed than he cared to admit. He wasn't about to show anything that might make Macku worry about him though, not if he could help it.

"Should I make you a raft...?" Macku asked, moving to let the mech up as she grasped at the tough reeds.

The veteran grimaced a little as he thought about it. "... It might be a good idea, but... how long would it take? I don't want to spend time we needn't use if it would be too much trouble." He was starting to show more of his 'get the job done quick' side, though at least he was willing to acknowledge that he very well might need a raft in order to avoid getting himself jolted.

"Not too long if you could help me harvest the right reeds," the girl looked back, having an armful all ready, eyeing the mech as if trying to esimat how much he weighed.

Stormer nodded as he stood up, ignoring the mud and dirt that spattered his frame. "Alright. What sort of reed am I looking for?"

"Like these, the longer and blue-green ones." Macku came back over to show him her bundle. The reeds were surprisingly hard and sturdy.

The white bot nodded, looking over the reeds she'd collected before moving to gather together some more for her. Sturdy as they may have been, Stormer didn't seem to have a whole lot of trouble with collecting some. "Was there a specific amount you needed?" He asked while he worked.

"More than that, you're all metal so...nice and floaty instead of half floaty," The Matoran chirped, as she added another smaller armload, then started sorting.

He nodded again to show he understood before continuing to gather and harvest reeds for Macku. "Floaty is probably a good plan. Half floaty, while cleaner, isn't something I'm fond of yet, not until I'm a bit patched up." He paused for a moment before adding as an after thought. "Thank you for your help, by the way."

"I'm a Ga-Matoran, we're healers," Macku said, grinning in the odd way of her people. By the time Stormer came back she had woven the base fame of the raft, big enough that the mech could sit or kneel and still just small enough to make it through the waterways. "I'm the Chronicler in this area too, and you're a story if I ever did run into one!"

"Can a healer mend circuitry?" Stormer inquired, seeming curious as he brought back an armful of reeds. He then paused, smiling faintly in amusement before turning to get more reeds, though he'd stop if she said she had enough. "I am, huh? Hopefully it's a good story and not a boring, or bad one."

Macku looked up, giggling, "Well, we can our own...but its blended with our organic half. If we can't an Uno- or Ta-Matoran crafter should be able to."

"So... there are different sub-types of Matoran?" He inquired, seeming a little curious as he continued to harvest reeds.

"There's a lot of different Matoran, depending on our inner elemental power." She tilted her head at the white-brown mech, fighting the urge to pounce and clean.


	3. Start off

Stormer, oblivious to Macku's desire to tackle him and clean his armor up, thought that over a bit and nodded as he continued on. "I see... hm... I think I understand that one. It's like different nationalities, in a way." He didn't quite remember that Macku probably didn't know what he was talking about.

"Na...ta...lits...natio...nalities?" The girl tried really hard to say the word the Hero used, as the little translation thing by them wasn't working to shift that word into Matoran. Though she said it, Macku didn't pronounce the correct empathies, and knew it. She wished she had that knack that Matoro, Taka, Tala and Turaga Nokama all did for picking up new words and dialect so fast without the stones.

Stormer gave a faint smile of sorts. "Valiant effort." He remarked, bringing over some more reeds. "Hm... need more still, or is that enough?"

Macku paused what she was doing, so far already she had done an amazingly fast but also strong work. "That should do it, could you get some of the brown plants? There should be enough around this little island."

"On it." He responded, giving a small nod as he set off doing as she asked. "... I take it you are well practiced with raft construction?"

"I used to be a boat builder back in my first Koro," Macku beamed, "Comes in handy, though I don't know anything around here I can turn into a motor..." She eyed the wreckage, not trusting it.

Stormer paused to consider that, his gaze also straying to the wreck of his cockpit, and the unfortunate vessel it landed on. "Hm..." He shook his head afterwards; he doubted anything had survived that could even remotely be used like a motor. "Well, that would explain your skill then."

"I've had a long time to practice," Macku giggled, and maybe for now it would be better if the other-worlder didn't know exactly how _old_ this Matoran really was.

"Oh?" Stormer inquired. "How long have you been at your trade?"

"Since before Bara Magna was reform...well, not that long. Since just after Mata Nui fell to the Makuta and I woke up on the island of Mata Nui."

The veteran raised an eyebrow ridge. "Ehm... I'm not sure how long that is, Miss."

The girl tried to say the time for him, and frowned as the translation device wasn't having it, pitching a sparking fit in fact. The Matoran sighed, it seemed the old faction way of translating time would have to do if this mech wanted to really know.

"...maybe I can carve a time line in the Suva if there isn't one already..." Macku thought aloud.

Stormer frowned at the machine as well. "Perhaps I'll have to find out later." He remarked with mild annoyance. "At any rate..." He then looked back at Macku. "All things in their own time I suppose. I just hope my team is in better shape than my vehicle's cockpit is." He waved his hand vaguely at the wreckage as he said this, though he dropped off the arm-load of plants Macku had asked him to get first.

"Team?" the Ga-Matoran asked, the odd device's translation of calling this Stormer a Toa, and with Team, her mind automatically linked it to a Toa Team. But that can't be...right?

He nodded as he glanced back at her. "Yes. I'm the leader of my team, actually. The rest of my team was with the rest of my ship, but I don't even know where they ended up after the vehicle blew apart."

The Matoran native considered this, then looked upwards thoughtfully. She was scanning around carefully, tiling back until she flopped on her back, still intent on the sky above, one of the two moons showing blue-white off to the eastern side of the sky.

Stormer brought over another armload of plant matter in time to see her tumble over, optic ridge lifting again as he considered her position for a moment. "...having fun?"

Bright tri-colored eyes turned to him and blinked, "I'm looking for the Toa I saw earlier." She said, pointing up and to her right, rising up and still pointing, "But he's too far away to see us well I think..."

"Looking... for Toa...?" He repeated, glancing up at the sky as well out of confusion, and trying to focus on whatever she was pointing at. "Toa can fly?"

"Toa if Air can," Macku said, pointing out. The title did imply it a bit.

"Ah." Was all he really could say in response, considering it a bit more. "Well, that certainly makes sense... How many Toa are there anyway? Do you know?"

"Total?" Macku shook her head, "After the last Great Darkness there's been more Toa then ever, Though... I guess some of our new protectors are Glatorian, not Toa...but some are Toa like." She paused getting back to work, "Or, do you mean elemental types of Toa?"

Stormer just seemed more confused now. "I don't even know what the difference between a Toa and a Glatorian is, but I was meaning the total amount of Toa."

"Well...Toa are Bionicle, like me!" Macku held out her arms to show her balance self of flesh and mechanics, "Not all the Glatorian are like Bionicle, its more enhancements or limb replacements. And Toa are elementals too."

"So... you are biomechanical... and Glatorian are generally fleshy?" Stormer summarized. "... and Toa have elemental power, while Glatorian don't?"

"Most don't, a few like Toa Ackar where given elemental gifts by the great spirit." Macku tried to explain, realizing that the wonderfully complex histories of two cultures was hard enough...try explain it to an outsider of a third culture?

Her head started to hurt. How had Taka done this as Takua? He always knew what stories would help explain things when he was the Chronicler...

"... ehm... maybe just keep it to basics for now." The mech remarked with a small grimace. "A simple ' most don't but some do' would work. It might take me a while to figure out the whole rest of how things work around here."

"Oh... well, luckily I'm a chronicler!" if a biomechanical being could preen that's what Macku was doing, taking great pride in her job and duties.

"A chronicler, hm?" Stormer responded, considering that for a moment. The first thing that had jumped to his mind was a reporter for a news network, but he had a feeling that wasn't quite what Macku meant. As such, he didn't get too bothered about the thought, and smiled faintly. "I can tell you're rather fond of your job. I take it you get to see a lot of things most people generally wouldn't?"

"That's part of being a Story Keeper," The Ga-Matoran explained as she worked, well able to do both, "We have to find the stories, sometimes as their happening, and then update the Chronicle walls in the different Koros, and the new Chronicle Hall in Metru Nui."

He considered this information as well, smiling a little more as he responded. "I take it you were looking for stories when I... dropped in to say hello?"

"I was looking for a path between Ga-Koro Ru and Po-Koro Ru," the girl explained, "This whole Wahi is so new, even we Matoran haven't explored it, nor have the two Makuta made enough Rahi to fill it."

"Ah... what is 'Ru' exactly?" The mech inquired. "And... what is a Makuta?"

"Oh, there's so many Koros now, we're added masks names on the new sets to help tell them apart." Macku explained, starting to stuff the raft with the second plant type.

Stormer nodded to show he got the gist of what she said, making sure it was set in his memory bank so he wouldn't forget it any time soon. "...did you need more materials, or is this enough?"

The native girl tilted her head and then nodded, "It should be fine, you'll be a little damp but not soaked."

He smiled a bit at her response. "Alright. Damp I can handle." He glanced down at himself and frowned a bit afterwards. "It might be a good plan, actually." Clearly he was referring to the mud and dirt that caked his frame.

"You can get cleaned up at Ga-Koro," Macku offered, and there was hint in her voice that said that the mech was going to be cleaned one way or another.

Stormer took note of that hint, but -for the present- thought nothing of it. "That sounds like a good plan to me. The last thing I need or want is to get rusty and fall apart."

"You can get rust infections," Macku jerked, startled as she was finishing the raft.

"Hm?" Stormer inquired, seeming a little confused. "It's not an infection. The metal just deteriorates if it's left dirty and damp for too long. It generally takes a lot to make us heroes rust, but still, it can still happen."

"Rust infections can be as fatal as corruption or infected Kanohi," Macku shivered, touching her mask then hugging herself, biomechanical rust would not only effect half of her body, but poison the other organic half as well.

The mech noticed her unease and grimaced a bit. Perhaps discussing rust would be a bad idea for the present. "Well... let's just be glad it doesn't happen frequently, right? At any rate, this seems like a bad topic, so we should find a new one."

The Ga-Matoran shivered again, then tide of last reeds on the raft. She stood and stepped back as if debating on how to get it too the water.

Stormer noticed her debate, and smiled a little as he remarked. "Did you want me to move that for you?"

Macku blinked both sets of lids up at the mech, tilting her head, "If you'd like to." She smiled in that odd but also enduring Bionicle way.

The Hero nodded as he walked over, carefully lifting the finished raft and glancing around a bit. "Alright, now all we have to do is head out." His tone seemed to at least somewhat imply that he wasn't sure which way to go.

The native Matoran pointed to the side, then to another, and another as she giggled, trilling softly, "It's an island."

Stormer's optics followed Macku's pointing, and he gave an awkward sigh. "...right. Just about anywhere works then doesn't it." As he said this, he moved to put the raft down in the water, thankful that the rookies on his team weren't there to watch his blunder.

Macku hopped past Stormer, diving into the semi-shallow water expertly so she didn't hit the bottom. Instantly the Ga-Matoran's grace was apparent, well able to move, she was made for the water it seemed.

The Hero, in the meantime, got onto the raft and, after a bit of debate on how to move the raft, picked up a stick to use as a rafting pole. The raft he was sitting on moved, being pushed from below and slightly to one side, Macku helping to guide the other-worlder.

The mech blinked, but smiled faintly. "Ah, thank you." He glanced around again as he drifted along on the raft. Despite being new to everything, and the fact he'd been in a crash, he was rather enjoying this.

Maybe because it was the calm quiet of the wetland, the farther they left the crash site and the many sounds of creaking, protesting of a- essentially- decaying ship. There was however a slight unease that would take time to place, that other than the rustling of reeds and plants in the breeze, there was hardly any insect sounds here. The water was too clear, almost like glass to see the rivets in the earth and clay below where water had seemingly poured through before filling up to the level of the countless mini-islands. Something was almost artificial about these wetlands.

Needless to say, all the unusual surroundings was putting Stormer on edge. "Is it always like this around here?" He asked after a while, his expression showing his lack of contentment with the present situation. He was a bit uneasy, and it was obvious.

The Matoran looked back from where she was swimming and guiding the raft, "What do you mean?"

"Everything just seems... not real." The veteran hero explained with a small grimace. It's too pristine... too perfect, I guess one could say."

"There's no Rahi beasts." The Matoran smiled at him, "The Makuta can't make animals that fast, there's only two of them now, the only survivors. Mata Nui can remake the dead lands into new livable Wahi like this, but much is left clear and open until the Makuta can fill it."

He thought it over a bit, humming thoughtfully before realizing something. "... wait... people have to actually make creatures to live here? They don't just... happen on their own?"

"If you mean just organic creatures yes, to a point. The Makuta are the brothers of Mata Nui, he or the Great Beings made them to fill our old Universe with life." The Matoran pulled herself up a little on the raft, folding her arms over the side to look up at the mech, alternating between kicking and pushing off the bottom to still help. "Matoran for a very long time, we used to live on Aqua Manga, not Bara Magna, it was a moon we used to have that was all water."

Stormer thought it over a bit, sorting through the details as best he could. "What happened to Aqua Magna? And how did you end up here instead of being there?"

"That's a long story," Macku warned, paddling gently in the semi-shallow water, "But I guess it won't be until evening that we reach Ga-Koro."

The mech seemed amused. "Well, I'm fine to hear it if you want to tell it. If you want to save it for some other time though, go for it."

"There shouldn't be any predator Rahi around, so I think I can," the Matoran let go of the raft and swam a head a little to see which way to push the front on the right path. Coming back she grasped the raft again, "Okay... lets try this story like I do with the Agori... from the start-start."

"Alright then." He replied, raising an optic ridge at 'start-start', but not commenting on it further.


	4. An interlude

"So, as you can see Bara Magna has been fused together with its parts to be Spherus Magna, we still have two moons," the Matoran pointed up at the darkening sky, where the green moon was visible and silver glittered on the horizon, "Those of us, Bionicle, Agori and Glatorian, are all helping to bring the rest or planet's surface to life again, in the way of Rahi creatures not just the land and plants that the Great Spirit did." She went quiet, letting the long and admittedly complex story sink in as long as it took, the female kicking her legs in the water, ready to catch another strange fish for her own dinner to go along with the plants she had been collecting throughout the day.

Stormer took a while to compute this information, almost seeming like there was a faint whirring while his mind worked. Eventually though, he gave a small nod. That is rather complex, and confusing, but I think I understand it... most of it. I don't fully understand how a Matoran becomes a Toa, or... or that your universe was a giant robot... but I suppose I will figure that out in time, right?"

"Like I said, that was subspace technology on a massive, global scale," Macku said innocently, looking back at the mecha with wide tri-colored eyes. "From the Great Beings."

The veteran took a moment longer to consider it. "...essentially, something I probably won't ever fully understand?" He had, after all, been built for performance on field, not computing something as complex as subspace technology on that large a scale. "... What are the Great Beings? ...who or what created them?"

"I don't know; I'm just a modern and semi-distant past Chronicler." The native shrugged, then seemed to think, "You have a subspace pocket right?" She took out a Le-Koro made spear, extending it only partly, as it was the act of using sub space Macku wanted to show.

Stormer nodded once. "Yes. Not very big, but large enough to carry our weapons in." He knew he had his with him, even if it was broken. He wasn't a mechanic, but he felt he may as well try to fix it if possible.

"Okay, now imagine you pocket is as big as you," the Matoran started, smiling. "You can hold a lot of stuff and supplies right?"

He nodded again as he considered it. "Yes, that is true." He paused before cluing in. "...so these Great Beings somehow made a subspace pocket big enough to hide a universe inside a robot." He seemed blown away by this information. "...what Zib wouldn't do with information like that..." Needless to say, he was definitely impressed.

"Well, we called it the Matoran universe, but realistically," Macku gave the mech a sheepish look, "it was more like the equivalent mass of a moon, only flattened and stretched out."

"Ah... well, still in a way it was your universe for the time." Stormer pointed out with a small chuckle of sorts. "Thus, calling it a universe makes sense."

"Yes," the Ga-Matoran gave a pleased, almost light purring sound. She looked around, free to do so as it wasn't her turn to push, "I think we should stop and find a place to settle before its completely dark. I can see more or less in it but that only goes so far. I'm not a fire or earth Toa after all!"

"Very well." The veteran responded, nodding as he glanced around as well. "The question is though, where should we stop at? I don't know what spot would be a good one."

"There _shouldn't_ be any predator Rahi out this far... So I guess whichever of these stable islands seems alright." Macku examined one as she slid off the raft and into the now cool waters, unaffected by it as the girl swam over to look first.

She still didn't understand the whole thing should Stormer being a 'Venetian Hero' and that as a technical civilian she should be the one staying back.

Stormer wasn't long in pushing the raft after her, keeping an eye out for potential trouble just in case, even with her assurance. "That works for me." He didn't seem to be the sort to sit around and just wait for someone to report back, and considering his history. He was usually the go-first guy, and while he didn't mind Macku's going on ahead, it made him wonder why when she knew he was- where he was from- a Hero.

"Just a little fluffing is needed," Macku giggled, still just with in the translator's range. "Can you grab my gabri fish please?" She asked, not finding anything but an old Gukko bird nest, long sense used and left.

"A little... fluffing?" Stormer inquired, seeming confused as he nodded and picked up the fish she was referring to. He gave it a quick look over, as though studying it to make sure he knew what a gabri fish looked like for later on. Once he was done his quick look, he got off the raft and moved closer, taking the translator with him. "What else is there I can do to help with this?"

"The fish?" Macku looked up from gathering some plants that grew between the reeds, "Oh, I you... er, or I can eat that raw. Most all Ga- Le- and Ko-Matoran can do that with most fish, like Ta- Po- and Onu-Matoran can eat red meat if they need to. Taste better cooked, but we found out what we were capable of doing in the Cataclysm and after."

"I was meaning in general actually." He responded, raising an optic ridge with small amusement. "I don't think I can eat something like this anyway." Going by his tone, it was clear his lack of eating wasn't due to disgust, but a lack of capability for it. "Is there somewhere you wanted me to put this so I can be more useful in some other way?"

"I...guess that depends on how you want to sleep..." The girl paused, blinked and looked up at the white Hero, and asked a very valid question to her. "Um, do you sleep?"

Stormer shook his head. "I don't. As long as my core stays charged, I'm not about to power down any time soon, and if my core does lose charge... well... I wouldn't be waking up."

"You can still rest though?" Macku worried, coming back over to the mech.

"... Sort of." He replied, thinking about it a bit. "I have a power-save ability that lowers my functioning to the bare minimum without shutting down. I've also got a power cable that, if it's disconnected, will shut me down. I'd rather not unplug that cable though... as for the power-save setting, the only issue with that is that it takes a little while to reset back to normal, and while I'm in power-save mode, I'm a lot slower, and less capable, than when I'm on my usual setting."

"It's not a big deal though, really; my core was charged before I left the factory, so..." He paused to try and figure out how much time he had left. Now that he thought about it, he had no idea how long he had until he'd need another recharge.

"So... Like being in a feel elemental meditation." Macku said slowly, trying to link it with what she knew, "only just not the part about mapping energies. Aware but giving delayed reactions to simulation?"

"... Sure." Stormer responded after trying to compute what she said. "... I don't know what elemental meditation, but the last part of what you said matches up properly."

"We all...er," Macku caught her self as she settled down in a small camp site, using a knife off her leg to cut up her armored fish. She looked and smiled at the growing dark as a few insects gave hesitant chirps, and then more confident buzzing. "We Bionicle all have the ability to sense elemental energy, but only Toa can map or even pin point it, most Matoran have to concentrate or meditate to get a base higher level. Like at the level our elders can do."

The girl thought about it, "yes and no, we believe that all living thins are made from the elements, such as the main ones of fire, earth, stone, as well as water, ice and air." Macku touched her chest meaning her element of water, "Each one is independent but linked to all the others. Toa-sense, and it's called that because Toa are so attuned to the elements, tells you what's out in the world you can't see with your eyes, in darkness, shadows, or beyond a wall or wall of current of water."

"Hm... alright." The veteran bot remarked, thinking it over a bit. "I think that makes more sense... though... what is the difference between earth and stone?"

"Um, scale. Form," Macku explained after two tries and a poke at the translator. "Stone is solid, firm and strong." She picked up a loose pebble and tossed it at the mech, then a handful of earth to let it fall between her fingers, "earth is softer, forgiving and nurturing life to grow in it."

"... ah." Stormer responded, nodding as he had it figured out now. "That makes more sense now. Thank you, Macku."

"It can get complex with the interweaving of elements." The native admitted, nibbled on the raw fish.

Stormer nodded a bit. "I can tell. As it is my database is still running on high to try and sort this through fully."

Macku giggled, at least it wasn't Taka here; he would have likely overloaded the mech with stories. Even if her best friend was a Toa, he would always be the best Story Keeper she knew, and always had one for the asking. She giggled again at the image of the Toa of light leader as an old Turaga, and made a note to tease her friend about that.

Stormer, in the meantime, took another quick look around in case of danger, likely a habit programmed in. Seeing they were still alright, he looked back at Macku. "Is there anything else I should know before you settle down for the night?"

"Oh, I won't be out all night, I just need a nap, the Suva's not too far. But it's been a long day for me." Macku admitted, she had been mapping the watery landscape after all for a pathway between villages. "I promise, not more than an hour, the Suva will be warmer."

"Heat doesn't bother me in the slightest." The veteran assured her. "I was built to last all temperatures possible." He gave a small nod now as he stood up. "If you don't need my help for anything else, then I hope you rest well. I've heard it's important for organics, or partially organics, to get a good rest."

"And just because I can survive in a Ko-Wahi doesn't mean I like being frozen." Macku rolled her eyes, and settled down for her nap.

Stormer raised an optic ridge as he glanced at her, thinking it over a bit before shrugging a little and looking around again.

* * *


	5. Welcoming Party

It had been a while now since Macku got up from her rest, and the trip had been rather boring... however, everything changed when the wind did. Stormer gave a sudden shudder and glanced around. "...are my sensors malfunctioning, or does something smell... wrong?"

The female looked up and snorted, than sniffed the air, she blinked both sets of lids. "That's odd."

"That word works too, but it doesn't explain what it is." The veteran remarked, frowning as he glanced around, mostly in the direction of the wind. "What sort of thing even makes a scent like that?"

Mack tapped her fingers on her light armor, walking along beside the mech, but standing on one of the many small islands while he drifted on the raft. It just about put them even. "I... I don't know but it seemed familiar somehow..."

Stormer didn't know if he liked the sounds of this or not, keeping an eye out on the surroundings to try and figure out what was out there. "Familiar in a good way? Or a bad way?"

"Bad, that smells like...Visorak..." the girl shivered taking a few steps closer to the safety that water was to a Ga-Matoran.

The bot thought that over. "...Visorak... you mentioned those to me earlier, didn't you?" He asked grimly, his expression showing plainly that he wasn't liking this situation in the slightest.

Nodding, and pulling out her collapsed spear to hold onto Macku spoke up again, "Yes I did, they are, very, bad rahi. They're the ones with the mutagen venom."

"...right. Those ones." Stormer instinctively moved to pull out his weapon, but remembered it was broken and stopped himself. "...what's the likelihood that it will find us?"

"I'm not sure if it is one of the spiders, they travel in hordes, not alone," The Matoran sniffed again. "This is different."

"...mutant hybrid?" The bot suggested, expression still grim as he kept an eye out on the surroundings. "I've seen a few mutant creatures before, and none of them were fun to deal with..."

"A mutant Visorak...?" The Ga-Matoran looked visible sick, and the dark hide between the blue armor took a more gray than brown tint. "I don't think so... its more than likely an altered Rahi... and that mound wasn't there before." She added in a tone that was calm but the snapping of a spear extending was warning that she wasn't as calm.

Stormer gave a small nod of sorts as he turned his gaze to the bump she indicated. "...a burrower, perhaps?"

"I'd rather not find out," Macku said backing up and crouching to step into the water, but she froze for a moment at seeing the hill move up higher.

The veteran bot watched the hill suspiciously, ready to move, but hoping whatever it was wouldn't go for them as he too got lower down on his raft to try and make himself harder to see.

The earth shifted... and growled, rising up as the island split and cracked, falling away as large oval eyes, a bright glowing three tone color of reds in the cent and back drop, with a horizontal green ring. A massing head shook free the dirt, the grasses and aquatic moss hanging off it and two sets of curling and curving horns, giving it a shaggy look. The rest of the creature was still in the muck, but already partly standing up at a good twelve feet, twice as tall as the white mech.

Stormer's optics widened as he stared up at it. "...What... is that...?" For the moment, he seemed to almost forget he was a Hero. Granted, this creature was huge, and he... well, wasn't.

And those were some sizable teeth, even if they were scarily blunt.

"That was a... a rahi- and it's different...oh Mata Nui." The Ga-Matoran gasped spotting dull, rotted metal, flailing as she stepped too far and fell into the water. Only to pop back up, alarmed, "That's an infected Kanohi! Run!"

The creature, monster, roared and snapped.

Stormer flinched slightly at the roar, and quickly made to follow Macku. "That sounds like a very smart idea!" He could easily recall what Macku told him about infected masks, and though seeing one here was a bit confusing for him, he wasn't about to stop and ask questions. This was, after all, a time for action, and at the moment, that action was run. Very, very fast.

The Matoran flipped her spear into subspace and dove under the water, able to move much faster in it than over the islands like the mech for now. She was racing as the monster lunged up to all fours, shaking off the rest of the debris, one massive paw that was half claw half hoof came down on the raft Stormer used to be on.

Luckily for Stormer, he wasn't on the raft when this happened. His only problem now, however, was speed. He wasn't equipped for moving quickly through water, and he was still damaged, which impeded him even more. Despite this though, he did his best to keep up with Macku, his circuits humming as he tried to come up with away to possibly slow this monster down.

"Jump!" Macku yelled at the mech, launching herself up out of the water to scramble, and then had a running pace over the land, and jumped the short distance between this island to the next in the network. "You're too heavy to swim, up and over like this!"

The veteran managed to follow her, stumbling a little, but keeping on his feet as he raced after her. "Just had to get to land so I could manage that!" He remarked grimly. "I didn't get much of a chance to choose where I landed when I abandoned ship earlier!" He glanced briefly over his shoulder to gauge how far behind them the monstrous creature was. "How fast is that creature anyway?"

"They can nearly match a land Toa- Run to the Suva before it get's its balance!" Macku was panicked, and putting all her energy into fleeing, the Bionicle agility and her own sport history showing.

"That doesn't help me gauge the speed!" Stormer called after her, doing his best to keep up with her, though he did end up stumbling once or twice, something that cost him a fair bit of ground he was barely able to make back. "Does that thing have a weak point?"

"It means faster than we can go! And I don't know; it's not like I'm a Rahaga hunter!" The girl flailed but kept her balance as she looked back, seeing the mutated Rahi on its feet and starting to slog after the two, its heavier weight made the creature move at a slower rate, but it was still steadily gaining after mecha and Bionicle.

"Well, that's a speed I can at least understand." Stormer remarked, glancing over his shoulder and considering the situation a moment before getting an idea. Digging into his subspace and pulling out his only semi-functioning gun -he'd tampered with it a bit while Macku had been asleep- he pointed it at the soft ground in front of the Rahi and fired. An uncontrolled burst of what appeared to be liquid ice shot out, hitting the ground right in front of the monster and freezing it, though the impact also sent a spray of mud up, covering the ice just enough to make it hard to spot. Unfortunately, the kickback on his weapon hadn't been fixed, and ended up sending Stormer right off his feet, hitting the mud and sinking him in a little.

He wasted no time in getting himself loose, but by now he was likely in a severe danger zone, and all he could really do was hope the Rahi slipped enough to slow it down while he tried to catch up with Macku again.

The mutated rahi gave a trumpeting sound as it slid on the ice and mud, the fore hooves splaying out, and the massive head falling so one of the horns impaled into the soft earth by Stormer.

The mech was grasped by the arm and hefted up to his feet, Macku supporting the Hero for a moment before stepping away. She then rushed forward to thrust the spear ahead and into a gap between the armored head and infected mask. Macku yelped as if stung, but pushed at the spear turned lever to try and get the infected, rusty thing off.

Stormer gave a sharp, inhale-like noise as the horn just missed him, though he quickly got to his feet when Macku helped him up, expression grim as he moved in to try and help somehow. After all, he may have knocked the creature down, but it wasn't out, and until it was out of the fight there was no knowing what sort of trouble could happen.

"Push, push!" Macku cried, shoving with all her Bionicle born strength, her eyes on the staff as the unhealthy rusty colorations was moving from the infected mask to the spear, fallowing it up slowly to the Matoran. She looked at it, scared to death but still trying to remove it before the corruption made it to her.

Stormer nodded, taking hold of the spear lower down than Macku's hands and pushing with everything he could conjure up. He wasn't sure what the rust colorations meant, but it didn't take much for him to tell that Macku was afraid of it, and that meant it wasn't anything good. He decided he would ask questions about it later on, when their lives didn't depend on actions.

The creature's head jerked away, dragging the two with it by the spear, Macku yelped in turn as she was now under the bigger mech. "Don't let the corruption touch you- it infects the mind!" She was scrambling for her feet as the mutated creature bellowed, and a few seconds later something else roared an echo, but in a different tone of a second creature.

Stormer dug in his feet as he was moved, still holding onto the spear and trying to pry the infected mask off. "Great... another go round at going crazy." He muttered to himself before shaking his head and asking. "Do I want to know what that second call was?"

"What second call-" Macku yelped as she was jarred again, slipping on a patch of the ice and falling in an awkward pile in front of white feet. The Rahi growled, jerking his head up to get the little things away from its head, and to look up.

Stormer ended up jolted off his feet as well, forced to let go and ending up landing face-down in the mud nearby. Pulling his head out of the soft earth, he looked towards Macku, pushing himself out of the dirt and trying to help her up, though his optics were scanning the area, and keeping watch on the Rahi they were so dangerously close to.

The Matoran scrambled, getting a hold on the now no longer white mech, her grip was tightening as she watched orange flakes drifting down from above. Those glowing, tri-colored eyes looked up to see the infected Kanohi was flaking where the spear was still logged in. And then she screamed, scrambling to get away from the corruption that was so dangerous to Matoran.

The veteran wasn't as old as he was due to delaying, and no sooner had he caught sight of Macku's growing terror than he quite easily picked her up fully and made as fast as a retreat as he could, not daring to look back until they had at least made a little bit of headway in regard to escaping.

Macku wasn't exactly still, slapping at the muck on her form, then at his shoulders. At least being so covered the mud, it in turn insulated them from the flakes and once covered she was able to smear the orange and red flakes off safely, though she was more batting and slapping

Despite the distraction of being smeared with muck, Stormer kept running, letting Macku continue her endeavour as he kept running. He was used to holding onto moving 'targets', and at the present the Matoran in his arms wasn't causing too much of a problem. It wasn't like she kicked him, after all, and until she did something of that magnitude, it wouldn't have been hard to tell that the Hero's main focus was set to escape.

The earth shook, in a rhythmic thumping as the Rahi got back to its feet and make three bounds after the mech, the gaping maw open and descending. Then the creature gave a strangled sound, suddenly jerking to the side and away from Stormer and Macku, the sound of an even larger impact sounding of metal on metal. A deeper roar sounding, thunder deep and in comparison to the mutated creature, the second one sounded purely predator.

Stormer was nearly thrown off balance as the creature grew closer, but kept his footing and, even with the great beast being distracted, didn't stop to look back. If he had to know what was going on, he figured Macku would be the one to point it out on the way.

"Hewkii!" The Ga-Matoran cried, sounding relieved, but her grip on the mech didn't waver.

"Macku run!" A deep voice yelled, a snarling growl laced in the voice, and from the sound the speaker was big. "Both of you get to the Suva!"

The veteran bot didn't need to be told twice, since he'd pretty much been trying to pull that off already as it was. "I'm not sure who your friend is, but I owe him a thank you later." He remarked grimly, optics scanning around for an idea of where they were supposed to be going. "Macku am I going in the right direction?"

"Yes, ahead, fallow the elemental glow- wait, you can't-" She pointed forward, "It's the rounded thing ahead with blue lights!"

Giving the faintest of nods, the mech did his best to speed up, though he couldn't go as fast as before due to the added weight of carrying Macku. "Got it." He responded, taking note of the glowing lights, though he also made sure to keep an eye on the surroundings just in case there was something that could potentially get in his way or make him trip on the way there.

Something big came swooping overhead, there was more of a sense of movement and mass dropping behind and almost around Stormer. There was a wet thumping as two very large hands curled around both, lifting Stormer, and in turn Macku up and into a swirling wind.

"What the-" Stormer started saying, almost moving to react, but stopping himself before any such actions were done. Instead, he continued to hold onto Macku, trying to get a better view of what, or who, had just picked them up. The tone in his voice, however, was more than enough to imply he didn't take kindly to surprises when he was focused on other things.

A deep, almost armor vibrating deep rumble, a growl- no a purr came from the being holding the two, "Easypeace little brother, this is a ToaHero not Rahibeast, we will protect you," As he spoke in a strange rhythmic flow of alien words, almost like a song as it- he, loped with far longer strides to the Suva temple. And as soon as he was in the light, even dim, the robotic like giant stooped, green armor glowing brightly.

The veteran just studied the being closely, trying to make heads or tails of just what he was looking at, as well as, perhaps, what the being said. Part of it he understood, but the linked words were making it take longer for his processors to work through. Eventually though, he had it figured out reasonably enough, and gave a faint nod. "Alright. ... Thank you."

The being lowered them to the ground, dropping Stormer but catching Macku and letting her off his hand with gentle care and a green, one red, orange and white eye winking before rising back up and turning to charge back to the sounds of the fight in the dark.


	6. Friendly Natives

 

Luckily, Stormer was fast enough to make the landing, though he staggered a little before turning to look up at the being. He wasn't bothered about the fact he was dropped, or that Macku got a gentler ride down. The only thing that bothered him was that the being was so much bigger than him, and -perhaps- had done a far better job than Stormer ever could have. He didn't speak up about it though, just shaking his head a little before turning to look around the general area now and take in the details.

The green being jumped, the air surging up around him to add to the leap, three strides and the 'ToaHero' was in the fray, tackling the monster as the other even bigger being with an impressive crest was knocked back.

Stormer had looked over in time to see the 'ToaHero' join the fight, and gave a quiet sigh-like noise. It took him a moment or two, but finally he shook his head and looked at Macku. "Are you alright?"

The Matoran shook herself, seeming dazed a bit, then dived into the water to clean herself, popping back up into the light to do a rapid circle dance to check herself over, "Is any on me!?" She was almost back to panicking again. "I don't want to be a Shadow Matoran!"

Stormer just watched her before sighing quietly. "You're fine, Macku. Just calm down; panicking isn't going to help either of us, and we're safe now. Those... larger beings helped us."

"No, no the things that were falling from the infected Kanohi, did any get on me?" Macku insisted, then looked at the mech and coiled just before Stormer was bodily tackled himself into the water, and then cleaned.

Unfortunately for Stormer, he wasn't ready for this, and as such was rather easily knocked over, sputtering noises of surprise and nearly pushing Macku off, but deciding to just let her do what she was doing and hope she didn't get water into any of the cracks in his armor. "I said you were fine, Macku. Nothing got on you, and we're both safe."

"Now we know for sure!" Macku gave the mech a shake, or tried to as he was now back to having his strength and guard up. "It's bad enough getting an Infected Kanohi put on you- but the slower corruption from infection?" She keened, "I've seen what that's done to friends back on the island of Mata Nui- it's the most horrible thing in the worlds!"

"Okay, okay, just relax and stop shaking me before you-" his voice cut out as he gave a sudden and violent shudder, his optics losing their light as he went limp for all of ten or so seconds. Afterwards, he turned on again, optics lighting up as he finished what he was saying, not seeming aware that he'd powered down briefly. "-make me shut down." He then seemed to wince. "... Ouch... what happened?"

"I don't know." Macku was staring at him, confused. A roar had her looking up, squeaking and then running inside the Suva as the mutated creature had gotten a little closer, dragging the two full sized Toa a few paces.

The larger Toa with the crest drew back, his crest- the Kanohi- glowing brightly in the dark as Hewkii slammed his head against the Rahi's horned one. There was a ripple of power that was felt even to the mech, and his personal scanners would pick up the localized, increasing gravity in that spot.

Stormer took a moment to recover fully before he was able to get up and move, taking cover in the Suva as well, weapon out and ready, though after a second he looked at it, sighed, and put it away again. "I really need that repaired..." He muttered before looking back out at the fight, his programming telling him to do something, but his common sense telling him he really wouldn't be able to do much.

That was when he picked up on the shift of gravity. "What is going on out there?"

The green being leapt into the gravity field, even the air was wavering visibly in the dark, reflecting what light there was. But he was also moving where the creature couldn't, digging sizable claws into the infected Kanohi. He paused, and then muscles _flexed_ and he pulled, then _twisted_ , bright-white light visible under his hands as the corrupted thing was pulled slowly off the rahi.

Once it was free, the Toa of Air stood, snarling as he flexed again, charging his energies to purify, then snap the mask into pieces. Perched on the creature, the slender green giant planted one foot between the two sets of horns and roared, loud and deep and a throw back to his ancestors. It was a challenge and a victory call as the other crested being roared in a deeper tone, the warning echoing across the night time wet lands.

Needless to say, the veteran had no idea what the roaring was about, but decided not to question it. Instead, he seemed to relax a little with relief before sparks shot out of a few of the armor cracks he had. Wincing, he shifted back and sat against the wall, expression grim as he looked at Macku. "Well... they beat it. That's always good news."

"But the poor thing is still mutated," Macku said, peeking out of a window, even after nearly being eaten and the scare of infection, Matoran concern and a healer's instinct still showed through.

"And is there anything-" His voice fizzled a bit. "do about it?" He paused before frowning at himself a little, but didn't comment on it, just turning his gaze back to Macku afterwards.

She was staring at him with wide eyes, both sets of lids open. "That is for Hewkii and Lewa to deal with." She grasped Stormer's hand and started to tug him back into the Suva, "We need to get you to Ga-Koro."

The veteran's optics almost seemed to blink as the lights flickered slightly. Even with that though, he got up and moved with her. "Is some... wrong?" He asked, frowning again when his voice fizzled a bit. He knew it had to do with water inside his armor now, but he didn't want to let it seem like a big deal. So far he hadn't done anything too big, as far as he was aware. It just twinged a bit. "How are we going to get there from here? How far is it?"

"Just a setting away," Macku said, pulling and then placing the mech in the middle of the largest, center chamber. She darted off to one of the seven larger pillars supporting the roof. Unlike other Suva temples, this one was new, and barer. The Matoran was setting it to the village nearest, and looked back. "We can only go one at a time, when I say, jump up, then on the other side curl up if you can."

Stormer nodded slightly as his AI noodled it through. "Alright. Care to explain how that works first?" He looked around himself to try and figure out what exactly was about to happen. It wasn't hard to see he hadn't ever teleported before.

Than a blue ball neatly rolled over beside the mech. It uncurled into Macku who sat up and looked around at the startled Matoran, she chirped, and then vocally took off. Speaking too fast for the translator to keep up... or, given the slower rate of some, the translator just died for the mech.

Stormer, naturally, just stood there, seeming utterly confused at what she was saying. "... Macku, yo.u .n't .ng ..." He murmured as he glanced at her, not sure if she'd understand him or not. He knew he certainly didn't have the faintest idea what she was saying.

"Reou ta laki." The Ga-Matoran came back over, touching the mech's head and had a soothing tone. Than time seemed to jump, as the next thing going on was Stormer was moving on a stretcher and being taken into a lit place that smelled like a mechanic's shop, only a little different.

The most the veteran really had time to do was raise an eye ridge before everything around him changed. "... jus.t .ed?" He asked, looking around with obvious confusion, though he didn't try to get up; he had a feeling this wasn't really a smart time to move a great deal.

A much larger form of a Bionicle Matoran male was leaning over the mech, chirping a question back to him. He could just see Macku with another blue Ga-Matoran, both were fussing with what looked like metal as the male was in the middle of fixing Stormer's left arm.

Stormer just looked curiously up at him, not really knowing what was said or quite what was going on. "... ?" He crackled before wincing slightly as someone bumped a fraying wire.

The Matoran male was speaking, as if explaining what he was doing to the mech. Reaching over as he deftly sliced then replaced the damaged wires and spliced them back in so he could flex his hand and fingers.

The bot was about to try and ask what had been said again, but before he got a chance he gave a sharp and brief yell as the wires were cut and replaced, his whole body giving a shudder as his sensors went nuts, telling him that very much bad was happening and he needed to make it stop. Luckily though, Stormer wasn't about to react, and just held still, giving out a fizzy sighing noise as he tried to not over-work his energy output. The last thing he needed was to accidentally give off a core discharge and jolt the Matoran that were working on him.

The black bio-mechanical being paused, resting a hand on the mech's chest and hummed, not bothering with words but tone instead. Then took a far more careful look, searching for something in the shoulder joint, he crooned and then pressed what looked like a small stone against the nerve lines, and the arm went numb.

Stormer hadn't needed a whole lot of reassurance, but even still he found the thought to be comforting, and twitched a small smile before his arm lost all sense of... well, everything seemingly. He turned his head to try and see what the black Matoran had done, though at the angle he was on presently, he didn't really have a good view.

As for the black Matoran himself, he would've felt several vibrations when he'd put his hand on the bot's chest, as well as an odd, almost pulsating feeling. It was warm, in a way, and definitely some form of energy, though just what it was couldn't be made out. One thing was certain though; it was definitely foreign.

It also let the Matoran go back to repairing the damaged wires, and hydraulics in Stormer's arm, this time without the pain. That didn't mean his current mechanic was taking his time but moving in those swift sure motions, being fast but also careful. When the crystal was removed the mech's feeling would come slowly into the limb, not rushing back.

The whole time this happened, the veteran Hero just watched in silence, his expression showing faint curiosity and intrigue, particularly at the crystal. He nearly asked what it was, but remembered that his translator was utterly destroyed, and opted against it before he made a sound. Another thing that crossed his mind while he was being worked on, was the condition of the rest of his team. He didn't have a clue where they had landed, and as it was he was getting to be a bit worried. More so than usual, at least. He may not have shown it to his crew, but he did get concerned from time to time.

Macku's voice was herd, and then time skipped for the mech again. The Ga-Matoran peering down at him from being perched on a spot above the bed. She looked worried, and also having been there for a while.

Noticing the blue lights coming back up she perked up, "Stormer?" she asked, touching his helm, then shoulder, "Are you back again?" Macku slide off the table and beside the mech's bed. Looking over his frame before help him sit up, "your balance might be off, but we repaired you as best we could, and this time you're water proof with the new armor."

At first, the mech wasn't fully sure what he'd missed or what happened, and as such he took a few moments to let his optics focus on Macku's face as well as let himself register what she said. "...Yes, I'm here... what do you mean, am I back again?"

As she helped him sit up, he already noticed a few changes, and loked himself over to see what all was different. "Thank you, by the way." He then realized something else. "... you fixed the translator as well?" He asked curiously, trying to figure out how he could understand her so clearly at the present when he'd known for certain his device had been busted.

"No, we couldn't so we gave you a translation stone." The girl said, pointing at his middle. "Seems to be working."

"A... translation stone?" Stormer inquired, his expression showing confusion. "I'm not quite sure I follow your meaning."

"It's not really a stone, but made from the same Kanoka disks that make a Kanohi rue." Macku tried to explain to the off worlder, paused and thought. "It...Just translates mentally for us, and apparently does the same for you."

"... You lost me again, but I'll agree and let it be for now." The veteran responded, thinking it over a little before shaking his head. "I am curious where you put it though... and how I missed the entire repairing process... have I been shutting down?"

Macku considered it, "I'm not sure about shutting down, but you were...pausing? And forgetting a lot until Onura cleaned all the water out and replaced what was broken. We had to use protodermis to replace the armor that was broken, so that's what the blue is on you. Onura couldn't tell what your armor is made of."

"You said something I didn't understand earlier, before I was repaired." He clarified. "And the next thing I knew, I was lying down being repaired... then you said something else, and now here we are... either way, I'm very grateful for the help." He then paused and looked at himself again. He wasn't used to seeing blue on himself; usually he saw it on Surge. That was when a different thought came to him. "You... your friend didn't tamper with any glowing stones already inside me, did he?" Going by his tone, it was obvious this was important.

"It's too much like a heart light," Macku shook her head, "And you said before that that was what made you alive, so of course Onura wouldn't tamper with it, other than the added chest and dorsal plates." She motioned to his broad chest plate, were a mock up of a heart light was, "that was my idea...just in case. Agori aren't as open minded as Bionicle. I can sense the living energy, but I'm not sure one of them can. And I think that was from when you...paused."

"Ah..." His whole frame seemed to relax again before he paused and reached up with one hand to feel his head and face, trying to figure out if that had changed as well. "Thank you for not tampering with it, and providing a safeguard. I'd rather not be torn apart because someone got curious about my Core."

The Ga-Matoran smiled before stepping back, "would you like to get up?"

The veteran smiled again, faint as it was, and he nodded before shifting and sliding off the bed. The balance was a bit off, he noticed, and he took a little while just to get used to standing with it the way it was, but he gave a small nod of approval all the same. "Definitely feels better."

"Onura tried to keep things even he said," Macku was watching him with a healer's eye, but let the mech soft out his balance.

"He did a good job." Stormer remarked, getting himself balanced out fairly quickly, for the most part at the very least. "It's a bit unusual, but it should be fairly easy to get used to." He shifted a bit and did a bit of pacing to further get himself used to it. "... There we go." He added after a moment of testing. "I think I've got it."

Noting that the mech reclaimed his balance as fast as a Toa, the Matoran was impressed to say the least. Fallowing after the mech, "that's good. It's still dark out but if you'd like you can come out into the Koro."

The mech thought it over a bit before giving a faint shrug. "Whichever you prefer, to be honest. I should probably get a look around so I can get a feel for the area. No sense in getting lost if I can avoid it."

"It's still dark." Macku warned, moving to the door, "Not all of the village is sleeping, but we stay quiet at night. More habit than anything."

Stormer gave a small nod as he followed her. "Sounds logical to me." He responded, referring both the darkness and staying quiet. "... did those two bigger beings ever come back?"

"I'm not sure where Lewa is, but Hewkii is resting in the Kini Nui, he just ate. Would you like to properly meet him?" Macku offered as she paused on a dock between the stable ground the cabin like place was in, over a deeper water way to a network of interconnected docks and floating docks.

"I wouldn't mind it." Stormer responded after a moment or two of thought. "Though if he's resting I should probably leave him be." He knew how testy people could get if they were disturbed during their down time, but All the same, he did want to actually meet Hewkii, as well as thank him for his help. After all, the mech knew he and Macku probably wouldn't have stood a chance if things had kept going the way they were during the fight.


	7. Toa Hwekii

"I wouldn't mind it." Stormer responded after a moment or two of thought. "Though if he's resting I should probably leave him be." He knew how testy people could get if they were disturbed during their down time, but all the same, he did want to actually meet Hewkii, as well as thank him for his help. After all, the mech knew he and Macku probably wouldn't have stood a chance if things had kept going the way they were during the fight.

"He's not sleeping," Macku giggled, "Just digesting his dinner; if Hewkii wanted to sleep he wouldn't be in the village but sleeping in the deeper water." She grinned as she diverted long enough to get a basket of large blue and red marble spheres, local fruit about the size of a melon, easily able to hold and balance it on her head. "Or in the Great Temple."

The mech seemed amused. "I was referring to getting some alone time." He remarked. "Resting doesn't always have to mean sleep, after all." His gaze then went to the fruit. "... What are those?"

"They're a new kind of Gogi berries," The Matoran grinned, "Very tasty and grow in this Wahi. And again, if Toa Hewkii wanted to be alone, he wouldn't be in the village. Toa love Matoran, and the young, and," she looked ahead with a smile that wasn't a grin or small, and there was something else going on, "And being with a Toa... it's the safest pace to be on the Magna."

Stormer considered her words with intrigue, though inwardly he couldn't help but feel he wasn't quite living up to the sort of standard he should've been. Pushing that side thought away though, he gave a small nod of sorts. "The Toa seem like they're very good people to be around, and have around. I can't imagine what it would have ended up like if there weren't any."

"I know what its like," Macku looked down, "A lot of Matoran do, for a long time there were no Toa, for a thousand years in the Dark-Times."

"... Was there anyone to help you?" He asked, his expression showing concern. "Any form of protection?"

"Not on my island," Macku shook her head slightly, "Like I said before, before the Dark Times, the Toa were all either killed or imprisoned. So we Matoran- well, not all but many had to defend ourselves from infected Rahi. The Ta-Koro Guard on my island, most of the Ta-Matoran proved to be some of the best defenders with Onu-Matoran right behind. Le-Matoran runners and pilots mastered the sky, we Ga-Matoran all became healers. Ko-Matoran hunters and Po-Matoran crafters... we built walls and learned to fight."

The mech was quiet while he listened to what she said, only nodding when she was done and he'd had it sorted. "That does sound harsh... how did the Toa return, or come to be, then? If all of the others were dead or otherwise engaged?"

"Somewhere hidden, the Toa Mata," Macku explained once more, "The Chronicler at the time, my best friend Takua- he's called Taka now, summoned them. I was apart of the Chronicler's Company so I saw the Toa as they saved us, they saved the Rahi too! And though they did fight as any new team will, they rose to each challenge that the Makuta Teridax tried."

"Oh, right. I recall you telling me that." Stormer responded, thinking it through a bit. "Sorry about that. I remember hearing this now." He offered a faint smile of sorts. "Still sorting through the details of everything you told me before."

"It's a lot to take in, and most all of us have lived through it all." Macku smiled as they approached and open temple, large enough for several of the larger beings to stand around in. There were some other Matoran, mostly the blue females, but some larger males of black and brown based armor moving around, checking the temple, coming or going or just passing by. Several were giving Stormer odd and interested looks, but were too polite to pry, not shy or afraid of him, just polite.

The mech nodded as he walked with her, thinking it over a bit more before confessing. "It might take a bit of time before my processors fully have the information sorted, but I'll do what I can to remember everything when I'm asked about it. Please bear with me until it's sorted." He had noticed the looks he was getting now too, but wasn't too phased. He was used to being stared at, so this was _somewhat_ routine for him.

"I'm a Story Keeper now," Macku smiled, "I'm kind of used to repeating stories for Agori." She walked into the temple, looking around and then fallowed the giggles, "Okay kids, give Hewkii loves and time for bed!"

"Aww..." The smaller, clearly children looked down from their perches on the massive frame that was lounging back.

"Aww..." The Toa crooned, moving slowly and ever so gently to cradle three in his arms against his chest. "It is getting late for you lot." He chuckled, the large crested head tilting down to look at the collection of young sprawling on his frame.

"We want a kiss!" One of the little green colored boys cried, getting cheers of agreement from the rest of the youth, and the giant rolled his eyes, the breather like thing on his head and helm looked completely integrated though.

Needless to say, Stormer was rather surprised, and amused, by the scene he and Macku came across. While he didn't fully show it, he was laughing quietly inside, as well as surprised by the sheer size of Hewkii. After all, Stormer was supposed to be a Hero, and here the Toa was quite able to tower over him. Certainly not a good boost to one's ego.

That and the Toa was pretty much the same size as some of the larger, and nastier baddies that Stormer had to fight over the years. Yet the actions the mech could see were all slow and gentle, even as Hewkii cradled three children at a time in his arms, ducking his head as low as possible to let them thump their masks against his. A deep rumbling purr vibrating out of his chest in pleasure of being with those that were so innocent and under his protections.

The veteran mech took time to observe and watch in silence, seeming intrigued, amazed, and perhaps slightly uneasy, of the Toa before him. He knew one thing for certain; he wished Hero Factory was able to make Heroes that size. It probably would've been a major help in the past.

Each youngling had to have the same motion, pressing mask to head with the Toa- and that was his kanohi mask though Stormer wouldn't know right away. It was the Bionicle equivalent of a kiss, and after the Toa set each one down, knowing each child by name and shooing them off with parents or caretakers until he was at last free to sit up.

Stormer just watched them go, seeming amused and intrigued as he watched after the kids. He could remember the child bots back on his home planet acting like that, racing up to meet their hero and only leaving when they had to. It brought back good memories. Soon enough though, he turned his gaze back to Hewkii, and then looked at Macku, as though asking her what to do next.

She pushed the large basket into his arms, then pounced. Hewkii swept her up and folded her into an embrace, only pulling back so they could press kanohi together longer than a tap. The Toa's purring changed into a loving tone as he nuzzled and held onto the Ga-Matoran.

"Mata Nui Macku, I thought I nearly lost you today, when I found your boat crush... and the rahi!" Hewkii huffed.

The veteran raised an optic ridge as he watched her go, just left standing there and holding the basket with a confused expression on his face. Eventually though, he shrugged and just stood there, waiting and watching in silence while the pair cuddled.

"Sorry," Hewkii said and his tri-color eyes turned to the smaller mech, one closing as Macku nuzzled against him.

"I'm not!" The girl giggled, dropping down to rest her cheek against the Toa's pulsing heart-light in bliss.

Stormer shrugged slightly and set the basket down. "It's fine. I've held worse." He paused before adding with a small nod of gratitude. "Thank you for helping us earlier."

"Not only is it my duty," Hewkii inclined his shielded head, "but I would never go far, let alone leave my life mate unprotected."

"Your life ma-oh." He figured it out mid-sentence, and smiled faintly. However, he paused to look between the pair, as though trying to figure out how a match with that sort of size difference would even work very well. Eventually though, he gave up. "All the same though, I am grateful."

"I wasn't always this big," Hewkii was grinning inside the breather mask, eyes glittering with mirth.

The mech seemed as though he may have blinked were he capable of it. However, he soon recalled Macku telling him that part as well, and nodded. "Oh, right. I remember hearing about that now." He paused to briefly glance down at himself before quickly looking back at Hewkii. Normally he was the tallest on his team, but now? This just felt awkward.

"Toa have to come from somewhere, and most are made from Matoran, not born Toa," The giant shifted and let Macku slide into his lap, and impishly tickling her to get a trill. Looking back he gave a half smile, "Macku said you were separated from your brothers?"

Stormer gave a small nod of sorts, by now aware that Toa generally called their team by sibling terms thanks to Macku's stories. "Yes. Our ship tore apart and... Well, the part I was in crushed Macku's boat, if I'm recalling it correctly."

"Do you have any idea of the trajectories?" the Toa nudge Macku off to shift up and sit on his knees, clearing up some space and pointed down at the carved floor, he looked around and pointed at a spot with the lay out of the village. "This is Ga-Koro, your landing spot was...here." the other clawed finger pointed at a second spot.

The bot shook his head now and grimaced as he moved closer to get a look at the map. "I didn't. When the cockpit broke off, it was all I could do to actually figure out what happened."

"Not very well made," Hewkii frowned, tilting his crested head, then motioned to the map, "what angle were you coming from,"

"We... I, don't actually know why the ship broke apart. The ships we use normally don't just blow up for something fun to do." He then sighed and looked at the map, grimacing a bit in calculation before pointing in the direction. "There. That looks to be the angle..." He thought a moment. "... I think..." He sighed. "I'm still not used to the area very much."

"What did you see outside?" Macku offered, "It can't be that different than Air Toa flying higher up for long distances."

"... I saw swamp?" Stormer responded with a sigh. "I was a bit preoccupied with figuring out why the ship blew apart."

"Think about it," Macku said gently, her voice calm, "What was the color of the ground, where there shining lines, or mucky? Was it green or brown?" The landing spot was near where three Wahi converged.

The veteran took a bit of time to recall, but eventually spoke. "It was muddy and mostly brown." He remarked. "Very wet, and nothing shiny anywhere. Even the water was dull."

There was a long pause, and then the two Bionicle looked at each other. "Po-Wahi." They said at the same time with a nod.

"The debris trail would be heading to Po-Koro or Ta-Koro in that direction." Hewkii nodded, "If your ship was breaking, it's likely in that direction."

Stormer looked at the pair, one optic ridged raised slightly at their synchronization, but he gave a faint nod all the same. "Well, that should help." He looked back at the map. "I just hope they survived the crash..."

"Hopefully the inside was better made than the hull," The Toa smirked, be no means passing up a teasing poke.

The mech gave a grim nod. "I sincerely hope so." He remarked, frowning as he looked at the floor. He seemed to be trying to figure out just why the ship had broken apart. So far he hadn't figured out why, and it was definitely bothering him.

... It also seemed that he didn't have a grand sense of humor.

Hewkii rolled his eyes, "It will be a while before even the false dawn, not sure how well you can see in the dark."

"A false dawn?" Stormer inquired. "What do you mean? ... And I can't see in the dark that well. I wasn't equipped with the proper gear for that when we set out."

"The time of light before the sun rises," Hewkii explained, nodded to the direction of sunrise.

The mech didn't quite seem to fully understand how that worked. "How is there light before the sun rises?"

"When it's under the horizon but hasn't lifted yet." The Toa said dryly, wondering just were this strange person was from. Hadn't he ever seen a sun rise?

"I thought that was all part of the dawn and sunrise, not a separate thing." Stormer remarked, one optic ridge raised slightly.

"Soon as its light we can head out, I'd rather not go on a two full stomachs." The Toa admitted, "And we can see what's going on."

The mech gave a small nod of sorts. "Understandable reasons. I will be ready to leave when you are."

"It's for the Guard, not sport," Macku smiled, having her own shield in subspace.

"Not to say Kohlii shields aren't just as stony, not with the abuse they get on a goal line." Hewkii huffed, then grinned losing the mock huff. "Mata Nui but I wish I could play sometime soon..."

"Kohlii?" Stormer inquired, searching his mind for any recollection of what that may have been. What's Kohlii?"

"The best spot anywhere! Of all time and going for over a thousand years," Hewkii nearly preened, and it was clear he took great pride in the sport. "Used to be a player for it when I was a Matoran."

The mech laughed quietly. "I can tell you are rather fond of the game. Perhaps I'll have to learn it, or have one of my team learn it, so we can bring the concept home and share it with the rest of Hero Factory."

"After we're sure everyone is safe," Hewkii agreed, "But for now, the time is best used to prepare." The Toa paused and looked down at the smaller Ga-Matoran thoughtfully and arching an eye ridge.

"Don't even think about it!" Macku glared back, "No way I would stay behind, even if I wasn't a story keeper and apart of Takua's company- and you are too!"

Stormer seemed curious, but just let them sort it out, deciding it wasn't his place. Besides, now that he was paying attention to himself a bit more, he was realizing that he would likely need to recharge at some point while he was here. It was pretty clear he was going to be on this planet a lot longer than originally considered.

"Do you need anything Stormer?" The Matoran asked as she won, looking to the mech.

"Hm? Oh, no not at the moment." He responded, though his tone was grim enough to show he would need something soon enough. "Just becoming aware of the power levels in my core at the present."

"Power levels?" Hewkii arched an eye ridge again, the motion just visible to the new comer.

Stormer looked at the Toa and nodded a bit. "My core needs to recharge sometimes, or else it, and I, will go dead. Having no energy left in my core will not only kill me, but make my core utterly useless." He didn't sound worried about the fact that his core was starting to hit lower levels, but he was definitely grim.

The stone giant rumbled thoughtfully, though unseen he was testing the energies he could feel from the mech, Hewkii using his elemental side to do so. "Perhaps rest, or meditation?"

"I don't think that will help me." The mech confessed with a grimace. "I can't recharge that way. It takes an actual source of energy to complete a core recharge."

"Like a power stone?" The great crested head tilted.

"Yes, actually." Stormer replied, hesitating before glancing down at his chest. "My core is made of a rare substance known as Quaza. It's... a complicated mineral that I don't know all the properties of, but it is essentially what gives me life. If my core fully runs out of energy, I die. There's no rebooting or bringing me back. Without my core, I'm... well, nothing. I'm just not."

"Hmm..." Hewkii rumbled as he dipped into subspace, pulling out a canister that had a broken, but defined power stone to hand down to Stormer. "Even if they're shards, be careful."

The mech seemed a little confused as he moved closer and accepted the canister. "What is this?" He asked, his curiosity fairly obvious.

"Twist the top," Macku offered, "don't touch the shards directly, but it's a broken power stone. We use them to run the bigger equipment."

"Ah... and how would these help?" He inquired, looking to Macku now. "I haven't used anything like this to charge my core before. Mostly I just get hit with energy that's channelled straight to my core."

"It was just a thought.." Hewkii huffed, looking away and if a mask like that could pout he might have been doing that.

It took a moment for Stormer to realize that Hewkii had misunderstood him. Shaking his head, he looked back at the Toa and corrected himself. "I wasn't shooting your idea down. I was meaning 'how will I transfer the energy over'."

"Normally we just hock up the stones to what we need, or to a cradle." The Chronicler said, sounding sheepish, "We don't know your systems very well..."

The mech thought it over a bit. "... well, this could be interesting." He remarked as he considered what might happen. "... Guess we'll just have to experiment and see what happens."

"I'll be back," Macku promised, looking up at her lifemate and patted Hewkii's knee. "You should get a few good breaths of the water here where it's clean, and switch out your breather's filter too."

"Yes dear," Hewkii said with an amused tone, tapping the lower part of his mask.

The mech merely smiled a bit while he waited patiently for Macku to finish fussing with Hewkii and telling him what to do. It almost reminded him of some of the senior chiefs back home. Not Zib, not by a long shot, but a couple of the others.


	8. Looking for an adventure

He wasn't exactly sure what he found but it had to be a story, and Takiu (he really wanted to talk to his hero to see if he may fully change his name!) had set out for an adventure to find a story after all. It was the farthest he'd been from a Koro, on his own too!

Granted, seeing that mass of something... flying and burning in the sky had scared Takiu at first, but drawing on all the stories of his hero when Toa Taka was just a Matoran too, he dared to come and investigate. And he nearly tripped on an Agori like being fallowing the trail of debris.

So now he was peering under the slab of thin-ish metal at this being. Takiu poked the grey metal with the hammer side of his kohlii stick, and getting no response poked him again with a finger. "Are...you alive...?"

The 'ish', as it looked neither like a full on Agori, or anything else from this planet, twitched slightly after a moment or two, sky blue optics flickering a few times before fully lighting up. A coughing noise came next, followed by a groan. Finally, the strange being shifted, mumbling words that probably didn't make much sense, as they were both a bit fuzzy, and a different language. It didn't take too long, however, for the 'ish' to notice Takiu's presence, and poking. "... eh?"

The ish's voice was deep and strong sounding despite the fact it was just waking up. What was this thing anyway?

Bright red, orange and white eyes started back from the 'safety' of the Matoran's hiding spot, on the door that was resting over top of the mech. The Matoran unknowingly looked a bit more like the youth the 'ish' was used to, even if his mask was just slightly too big.

The 'ish' took a little while to refocus on the surroundings, though its optics remained on the Matoran. Again it shifted a bit, trying to get itself out from under the door, though given the state of the 'ish', it was likely to take a little while for it to fully 'wake up'. This would be the perfect chance for Takiu to try and figure out what it was.

He could tell the new...person thing...ish... wasn't all there yet, moving slow like the Turaga first thing after a rest time- and Takiu moved on the other side of the door, sliding off to show how small he really was. Holding his 'staff,' and taking a second to look at the attached fossilized talon on the end, he knelt down to peer under the door, looking for the glow of a heart light or stone.

"Are you okay?" he asked, unsure as the ish-person hadn't said anything really. Just babble.

The 'ish' didn't appear to have a heart light of any sort. Not one that was overly visible, or normal. He did, however, have an unusual plate on his chest, smack dab in the center, with an equally unusual symbol on the front, whilst the area around the symbol was glowing a soft, icy blue, pulsating slightly now and then, though nothing overly rhythmic. Its armor appeared to be severely dented and banged up too, with a few exposed wires sparking due to small fractures and breaks in the cable casing.

The odd being was still watching Takiu as it moved, shuddering slightly as it started to push the heavy door off of itself. It responded again, this time in clearer words that at least identified it to be -judging by the tone- male. That was about all that could be deciphered though; it still was speaking nonsense, or at least sounded as though it were.

The Matoran child touched the door, but paused, watching as the mech shifted the door, then started lifting it. Takiu _eep_ ed and scrambled back away, wide eyed and crouching on the ground, with his pack and staff, he looked like he was in the middle of playing pretend to the new comer.

"Are you going to move that?" He yipped, "It would take a Toa!"

The 'ish' paused to look at the child, seeming utterly confused before looking back at the door and, after adjusting his position, kicking it off of him. It didn't send the door flying, but it certainly flipped it over, off of the strange being and harmlessly to the side. He then got up, shook the dirt off himself, and looked quizzically at Takiu, as though curious what was going on.

The Matoran youth squeaked, or chirped an alarm, scrambling back away from the much bigger mech. The tri-colored eyes wide before holding the kohlii stick out, trying to mimic what he had seen Toa Taka's carving doing many times in the battle scenes. The fact that he barely cleared over the ish's lower thigh wouldn't keep Takiu from being a brave Toa of light!

No sir!

This was a master athlete of kohlii, Takiu had been playing all his life and scored goals against the best Matoran of Po-Koro and Ga-Koro! He was just as athletic as Takua was back in the Dark Times and just as brave as the first Story Keeper was!

So, Takiu _totally_ meant to trip when running away... To get a better angle! He was just seeing if it was better to take on the ish from the ground.

Really.

The ish, however, tilted his head with curiosity, and while his words couldn't be understood, he did seem curious, and perhaps concerned. If Takiu looked back at him, he'd have seen that the ish also looked highly confused, as though he really had no idea what was going on around him. After a moment though, the ish moved a bit closer and offered Takiu his hand. Was he trying to help the Matoran up again? He certainly wasn't acting overly hostile.

The Matoran child looked down, then he craned his head back so the brown mask was tilted to stare. Clutching his kohlii staff Takiu poked at one if the silver-grey hands, despite himself still having the universal, innocent curiosity of the young, "What...are you?"

The ish seemed amused when Takiu poked him, making a quiet chuckle sort of sound as he looked the child over. He said something else as well, but just like before, nothing could really be understood. Whatever the case was though, this being seemed happy to talk, even if he had no idea what was being said. He also stayed squatted down so he was more at eye-level with Takiu once putting the boy on his feet, most likely so he wouldn't accidentally scare the Matoran again.

"Why can't you talk Bionicle?" Takiu asked, puzzled to no end as the youth edged to one side, then circled the mecha. "What are you?"

Of course, the being had no idea what Takiu was saying, and as such just raised an optic ridge before giving a shrug, trying to convey something, though just what probably was harder to figure out.

The Po-Matoran child stopped in front of the mech again, staring for a long minute, than squeaked as something belatedly kicked in. With a little flail- because all Toa did that now and then to get the blood flowing (right?), the boy ran back to his dropped adventure bag to start digging in.

The ish just watched for a moment, seeming highly confused about what was going on. He stood up again and moved a little closer to watch, though he settled himself on the ground in a sitting position again so he was back at Takiu's eye level afterwards. No doubt about it, he was definitely curious.

A few things were tossed out, a crafted and carved ball of some sort rolling over to the mech. It rolled into his foot, feeling much lighter than the stone it looked like, being made of Laval pumas.

This definitely caught his attention, and as such the mech carefully picked it up, looking it over curiously to try and figure out what it was made of.

Takiu popped up again, "I found it!" He cheered holding something disk shape and large in his small hands, being palm sized to an adult. His announcement was understandable though to the mech.

The mech tilted his head at this, making a faint 'hm?' noise as he looked Takiu over curiously, his gaze soon falling to the unusual object in the child's hands. Clearly he wanted to know what it was. "… What is that?" He asked, not really seeming aware that Takiu could understand him now as well.

"It's a Rue stone!" The child chirped, looking around at his stuff, putting the stone down in order to run around after the things and pack it back in. Chatting the whole time but with the medallion like stone not being in contact it didn't work as he unpacked and put things back in again. This was defiantly a child.

The being laughed quietly in amusement. "I'm not sure wha-" the rest of what he said couldn't be figured out thanks to the boy setting his stone down. He didn't seem aware that Takiu couldn't understand him anymore either.

The boy picked it up again, looking around then edged over and held it up by the leather strap, that was like the rest of it was just too big for him. "Here, put it on."

Bulk seemed amused as he accepted it. "Alright. And what does this do?" He paused to think on it a little bit. "... Is this why I can understand what you're saying part of the time?"

"It's a Rue stone, a translation stone... I don't know Agori- yet!- just Matoran..." Takiu shifted in place, and then spotting his ball pounced on it.

"I'm not sure what an Agori is, actually." He confessed before chuckling a little as he watched the Matoran go for the ball. "I'm not from around here."

"Yeah...you're weird looking..." Takiu said with the tactlessness of the young, walking around the mech again before poking a knee, "You're not Bionicle!" he yipped realizing this fact at last, clinging to kohlii stick and ball.

He laughed at the remark, seeing no real issue with the child's lack of tact. "Well, I'm not sure what a Bionicle is, but I'm not that either. I'm a Hero." He didn't seem to realize how bizarre this would have sounded.

Though the fallowing look and stare hinted at that.

"But...you're not a Toa Hero," Takiu puzzled, waving his hands in a big-big motion. "Or a Matoran Guard. How are you a Hero?"

"A... Toa Hero?" He asked. "... Matoran Guard? What are those?" He paused a moment before explaining further. "I'm just called a Hero. I was built for protecting people and stopping villains. That's pretty much what I do, and why I'm called what I'm called."

"Built?" The boy asked, confused to say the least, "like being...modi..fired?" he stumbled over the long Matoran word.

"...like a Vahki?" the young Matoran still was trying to grasp this, but at the same time Vahki weren't supposed to talk, just guards really. "And who are you saving?" His tri-colored eyes boggled, "Is it me?"

"I'm not sure what a Vahki is." He replied with a small shrug of sorts. "Not from around here." He then tilted his head a little. "Not sure, actually. My team was sent out to answer a distress signal, and our ship blew up. Don't really think I was awake for most of the crash, but here I am. Had you needed saving from something?"

"Umm... not really." Takiu was calming down again, "I'm on an adventure! I'm going to be a great Chronicler and then a Toa of Light!" the brown Po-Matoran preened at his plan.

"Sounds like a great plan." The mech piped up, though after a pause he asked awkwardly. "One question; what's a Toa?"

"Toa are the heroes! They're the elements and our guardians," Takiu puffed up trying to strike a pose with his Kohlii staff, "The Toa are the greatest! Toa Hewkii and Pohatu said I could become one someday, so 'm on an adventure to look for stories or," And he gasped dramatically and just pure excitement, "Maybe even a Toa stone!"

"A Toa Stone?" The mech inquired, seeming further curious. "... I'm going to take a guess and say you need one to be a Toa? Like it's a badge of office or something?"

"It turns you into a Toa if it's meant for you," The boy said, tilting his head, hesitating as he really didn't know how that happened, not yet anyways.

"How does it know who's who?" The mech inquired, tilting his head a little as he thought it over. "... not fully sure how it works..."

"It's um... um... energy." Takiu looked down at his softly pulsing heart light, touching the thing and looking back up. "It's made from a Toa's energy...so it knows."

"... sounds sort of like quaza." He remarked, glancing towards the odd, glowing shape on his chest. "Life giving energy in a solid form."

"There's three kinds of energy," Takiu perked up, he knew this! "Life energy, Toa energy and elemental energies!"

"Oh?" The mech inquired, thinking that over a bit. "... what is the difference between Toa energy and the others?"

"Uhhh..." the young matoran blinked, unsure and looked down, "...guess I need to know that to be a Toa..."

The mech raised an optic ridge. "Knowledge isn't everything, you know. Sometimes all it takes to be a great Hero is actions, not knowing all the answers."

"but what if someone else asks me and I am a Toa," Takiu thought aloud, going back to his pack to pull out a small data pad that was his size. This was a question to ask the next Toa he met.

He thought that over a bit. "... well, perhaps you learn automatically if you become a Toa." The mech said after a little while.

"Maybe..." Takiu didn't want to admit that he hadn't even gotten all his Matoran programming unfolding as he wasn't fully grown yet.

Luckily for Takiu, it didn't seem that the mech knew this, because he glanced around again before asking. "... where are we anyway?"

That he knew!

"We're in Po- and Ga-Wahi border." the boy pointed to one direction where the land was desert like the farther out.

Shifting to get a better look, the bot glanced over and considered that a bit. "... Yep, I've got no idea what those are." He then seemed to realize something and looked back to the Matoran. "Come to think of it, I'm not sure what your name is either."

"I'm Takiu," the boy said in a mix is some shyness and pride, "like Toa Taka's old name when he was a Matoran!"

"I'm not familiar with him, or his old name, but it's a pleasure to meet you, Takiu." The mech replied with a small grin of his own. "The name's Bulk... well, that's what most people call me anyway. It's my last name, but I go by it."

"What's a last name?" The Po-Matoran asked, blinking.

"...it's a second name, in a way." Bulk explained, trying to figure out the best way to explain it. "See, I've got two names; Duncan, and Bulk. ... I'm not sure why I've got two names, but hey, there's probably some reason for it."

It seemed he had boggled the mind of the native child, who knew titles and suffixes more.

Bulk was now confused about it as well, but eventually just shrugged it off. "Well, whatever the reason, just call me Bulk and we'll leave it at that, yeah?"

"...okay...?" The child said slowly, recovering from this new, but curveball concept.

With that sorted out, the mech stood up straight and moved back to the wreckage, or what pieces of it there were, and started to search for anything potentially valuable. There wasn't much to find, but soon he seemed to remember something and pulled his ball launcher out of his subspace pocket. He gave it a look over before nodding in satisfaction. "Still loaded and functional. That's good." He remarked to himself, putting it away again before turning to look back at Takiu. "You wouldn't happen to know where anyone else strange like me may have turned up, would you?"

Takiu was fallowing almost right on Bulk's heals the whole time, and when the mech turned the Matoran ran into a silver-gray leg. Squeaking, the boy flailed and clung to said leg, then meeping onto the armor.

Bulk blinked at this, looking curiously at Takiu before chuckling in amusement. "You alright?" He inquired, one optic ridge raised as he looked the child over.

"Yeah, of course I am!" Takiu shook himself after climbing down. "I'm going to be a Toa of Light after all! This doesn't bother me!" He puffed out, and it would just take a gentle poke to deflate him.

A gentle poke that the mech seemed happy to provide. "You know, you are allowed to be afraid. Hiding who you are won't help you in the long run, alright?"

The boy flailed and held his sides protectively, "Toa are brave even when afraid, and I run into a lot of things."

"Yes, but keep in mind you aren't a Toa yet." Bulk pointed out, crouching down to be on Takiu's eye level again. "I'm going to guess you're not quite an adult yet either. You have plenty of time."

"Not yet but I will be fully grown in another fifty years!" Takiu rubbed the back of his head, "but I'm sixteen now! And Toa Hewkii and Pohatu are watching over us...?"

It took Bulk a moment to sort through the age situation, but he gave a small nod after. "Exactly." He remarked. "You're still in your childhood, which means you have time left to just... be a kid. Relax and play with friends. Don't worry too much about being a Toa to the letter yet, alright? You've still got time to grow."

"But I'm going to be a chronicler first before being a Toa," Takiu tilted his head, he had a plan after all, "So that's why I'm on an adventure, but not a scary one. Turaga Bomonga said that I can come out and look for a story."

The mech thought this over for a little while before grinning. "Well, I'd say you found one heck of a big story. Not often someone meets a person like me, is it?"

"...I don't think so!" Takiu perked up again, and almost climbed up Bulk to get up to a rock and peer around. The mech was in for it with an active young Po-Matoran.

Bulk probably would've blinked were he built for it, but he laughed quietly all the same. "If you wanted a lift, you could have just asked. There's a reason the rest of my team calls me 'the big guy'."

"I'm a good climber!" Takiu insisted, looking at the mech almost optic level.

The mech chuckled with amusement. "I noticed that. I'm sure that comes in handy, if you're aiming to be a Chronicler someday."

"Yeah!" The boy nodded, "You have to look for stories, or follow a Toa hero!"

"How often do you get to follow a Toa hero?" Bulk asked, seeming highly curious about it. He wanted to know his chances of meeting one.

"I follow them whenever they come into the village." Takiu considered the landscape, then held his arms to Bulk (seemingly trusting the calm friendly mech) to be picked up. "I've been looking for a Toa all day."

Bulk seemed more than happy to oblige the boy, picking him up and perching him on one of the mech's shoulders. "Well then, that leaves us with a few choices; we can look for a Toa together, or we can do something else. I've got nothing really planned so what did you want to do?"

"Look for a Toa!" The Po-Matoran child announced to the world at large, waving his kohlii staff around as he wiggled into a spot for balance. Then chirped in alarm. "My bag..." He looked down at the ground were his pack was.

"Got it." The mech replied, crouching down and scooping up the bag before handing it to the boy, moving carefully so he didn't accidentally knock Takiu off his shoulder. "So, which direction should we go in?"

Once he had his bag back, and worked on re directing his balance, Takiu paused for a good look, then pointed off in a direction, "that way!"


	9. Little Guide

Bulk laughed quietly as he nodded and started off. "Alright, off we go then. You gone this way often?"

"Nope! This is even farther than the farthest I've been away without carrier or sire," Takiu said as calmly as if noting the rocks.

"Carrier or sire?" Bulk inquired, stepping over part of the broken ship he'd been in as he went and glancing around for any sign of interesting stuff. "What are those?"

"My caretakers! I was born in another Koro, and fostered here," the boy giggled, "Might as well be my creators, and they gave me this!" Takiu held up his staff, having great pride in it.

"Ah... your parents." The mech remarked, smiling as he thought it over. "I'm sure they're very nice people. They sound like they're really nice."

"Sire's a carver," the native kicked his feet in the air, unable to hold completely still. "And carrier is the village's best healer!"

Bulk seemed very much interested by this, looking as though he wanted to hear more about the society in general. "Do many people carve for a living?"

"That's what Po-Matoran do, well not all but a lot." Takiu said as he stuffed the light weight lava rock made ball back into his bag. "We're stone Matoran after all, but I don't want to be a carver."

The mech tilted his head slightly. "You're sorted by elements?" He asked, not seeming fully sure how the concept worked.

"Our inner elemental energies." Takiu poked his own heart light, "I don't know about sorting..."

"Ah..." Bulk responded, considering that a bit and trying to make sense of how it went. "... Eh, I'll figure out how that works later." He responded, seeming amused about it despite his confusion.

Not to forget that his native host may not know everything yet as he was still pretty young. And seemingly easily distracted at times looking around.

"Where are you from?" He asked, poking the silver-grey armor.

"Me? Oh, I'm from a planet a long ways away from here." The mech explained with a small smile. "Was built in a place called Hero Factory, in Makuhero City." He paused to consider a bit more. "I'm not actually sure how far away it is from here, but it's a long ways to be sure."

"What's a planet?" Takiu asked, tilting his head, "And why would a factory be needed to...make? Heros aren't made-ed, their destined...or...form...ish...ly...into toa."

"Planets are other worlds, basically." Bulk responded with amusement. "And... well... Toa aren't the only heroes out there, really. My job is to be a hero and save others who need help. Fight the bad guys, all that stuff."

"Magna!" The Matoran child chirped as he linked the words, then he had an oddly adorable look as the young one thought about what was said, as it was true there was Matoran-Heroes and Glatorians too. "So...it's your duty too? Like the Toa?"

"Yeah, something like that." He agreed, chuckling at the boy's enthusiasm and expression. "It would blow your mind, knowing just how many different worlds there are out there, each with its own unique and special ecosystem and way of life. I've seen planets that are completely water, as well as some that are nothing more than vast cities."

"Aqua Magana was all water, and Bota Magna was just jungle, and Bara Magna was a desert magna before the Great Spirit put the magnas back together." Takiu gasped after that rush of words. "And Turaga says that Mata Nui in his old body used to see and go to far off magnas too! He said that Uno-Metro still has samples and living memories in storage!"

The mech smiled again. "It's a fun thought, isn't it? Who knows? Maybe Mata Nui saw my world at some point. Not sure when, if he ever did, but it is a fun thought to think about."

"It was a really long time ago though," Takiu tilted his head, "He left Bara at the Shattering Turaga said, Turaga said he didn't come back until the Dark Times with the... the Makuta..." He shivered in a mix of honest fear and the fun terror of mostly safe bedtime stories.

"Makuta?" Bulk asked, seeming confused and rather curious. "What's a Makuta?"

"Makuta are...Makuta!" Takiu rubbed at his arms and held tight to his staff again, "Turaga says their not all bad, but there's only three left. They're Mata Nui's brother...or...brothers... Makuta make the Rahi that fill the worlds that the Great Spirit makes! But some went bad... and really scarydark, Turaga says Mata Nui's brother got je...jell...jelu... I don't know that word."

"... jealous?" The mech tried, figuring that was probably the right word.

"Yeah that!" Takiu nodded before sounding it out a few times, "Jeal...ous. Jealous."

"Yeah, thought so. Jealousy is something that can show up anywhere in the worlds. Even some Heroes have it." Bulk sighed as he thought it over. "A few Heroes have even gone bad because of it..."

"Like being turned into Shadow Toa?" The boy asked, using what he did know to try and link and thus understand.

"... if that means going bad and turning on the people you used to work with, then yeah, I guess so." Bulk responded, thinking it over a bit.

"Turaga said that happened to a lot of Toa too... but only a Toa of Light can save them... but there's not many Toa of light." Takiu sat back up, holding his staff out, "That's one of the reasons I'm going to be one! So Taka of the Toa Nuva isn't alone anymore!"

The mech smiled faintly, though he seemed a little unsure. "At least there's a way to help Shadow Toa. The Heroes that go rogue... they do it of their own choice. My team leader got hit pretty hard because someone from his rookie days went rogue. Now he's a big-time villain causing no end of trouble for everyone else. Stormer made it a personal goal to bring Von Ness down after what happened."

"I think that's becoming a Shadow Hunter..." Takiu puzzled softly aloud and then added, "Maybe he had an infected Kanohi put on him?" the boy offered hopefully, "And you just need to take it off?"

"A what?" Bulk asked. "... Not sure what that is, but no. Von Ness went bad without help. Stormer blames himself for what happened, but he really wasn't the one to blame. He didn't have any choice in what happened that day; all he could do was choose to run, or choose to try and help his team leader. Von Ness chose to abandon them, and the rest of Hero Factory. What he did, nobody could have changed."

"So he became a Dark hunter...ish..." Takiu struggled to grasp this concept of someone going bad by choice but just shy of getting it. Maybe that was a good thing for now.

"Sure, I guess. Not sure what a Dark Hunter is, but hey, it sounds like it suits the situation." The mech replied. "Anyway, this is a pretty dark topic, so let's get back to finding you a Toa, yeah?"

"Okay," Takiu nodded, not having a problem with that at all.

Bulk hummed cheerfully as they proceeded on, his blue optics scanning around for anything potentially worth investigating, or at least asking about. "So... what sort of fun things do you find during your adventures?"

"I like playing Kohlii!" Takiu waved his staff in the air, "And the scavenger hunts when Turaga or the Toa hide things- and looking for where Toa Pohatu is hiding for hugs!"

"Kohlii?" Bulk inquired. "Turaga? What are those? Can't say I've heard of 'em before."

"Turaga is the elder of the village," Takiu giggled looking at the mech, "And Kohlii is the best sport ever!"

"Ah, I see." He replied, thinking it over a bit while he put things into his own perspective as far as a Turaga went. "Kohlii's a sport, huh? Sounds like fun. Maybe you could show me it sometime, eh?"

"Sure! But it won't be a real game since there's just two of us," The boy said, then realized something, "You need a kohlii staff too, and a shield if your in the guard position. But you can't touch the ball, that's why you have a stick," Takiu held the staff 'stick' he had so Bulk could see the scoop end, and turned it around so he could also see the hammer end, though that had the fossil talon attached and aiming backwards to mimic something.

The mech considered the staff's features curiously before nodding. "Alright. Hm... Sounds like it's fun. The issue will be getting the right gear for it. The most I've got with me is a ball launcher, and that won't really be good for playing games with."

"I guess if its just play-learning its okay to use your hands..." The Matoran said thoughtfully, poking the fossil to be sure it was staying in place.

Bulk nodded cheerfully. "Sounds fine to me. The trick will be getting everything else we'll need. I don't know what all is needed to play, other than a stick, a ball, and potentially a shield."

"Every Koro has them, and the markets." Takiu nodded happily, "I've been saving widgets to get a shield! Maybe you can use yours to get stuff, or trade?"

"... Widgets?" The mech asked curiously. "... Oh, is that the currency here?" It seemed he didn't really have much to trade or use to buy things. Granted, considering what he'd said about himself, he probably never really had to buy things for himself.

Takiu shifted and pulled out a small bag from his just as small subspace pocket, fishing inside to take out a small, but still big to the boy, gear. It was made of some kind of metal that was and wasn't like anything the mech would have seen before. It was delicately carved with a pattern of lines inside circles.

"That's a five credit widget! I got that after cleaning carrier's storage jars!"

Needless to say, Bulk was very curious about this oddly shaped piece of metal. "Huh... That looks pretty neat. How many credits do you need for a shield?"

"I don't know, maybe nothing if I find something I can trade it for instead, but if the big ones are 20 credits- and I saved up that much!- than something my size should be less." Takiu explained his plan and logic.

"Sounds reasonable." The mech agreed, thinking it over a bit as he glanced around. "What are the shields generally made out of?" He seemed to be starting to get some form of plan, that may or may not have had to do with the wreckage he'd seemed to have showed up with.

"They can be made from a lot of stuff! Metal, Protodermis, rock, but I want a wood one since its lighter and I can't afford a Protodermis one..." The boy put his bag of widgets away.

"Wonder if that wreck I arrived in could be used as material to build things like that." Bulk mused, considering the situation. "It wouldn't just be 'decorating' the landscape then, and it could be used for something useful... possibly even trade material."

"But I'm not strong enough to carry anything yet, I'm still little," Takiu pouted, he was after all barely above knee high to the mech. "I can't even lift anything as big as me."

The mech chuckled in amusement. "Ah, but I can carry some of it, can't I? I may as well be useful while I'm here, and helping you out, as well as clearing up debris, is counted as being useful."

"But there's a lot of stuff in the wahi!" Takiu pushed at Bulk's head to change direction up a hill now, and once up there pointed back the way they came.

The Hero now could see in full the long debris trail left by the crashing ship, spanning several miles and not all in one single trail but paced and spread out

The mech turned as Takiu pushed at him, not putting up a fuss as he did so. However, he stopped and stared at the trails of debris. "Whoa... my team could be anywhere out there... I wonder if Stormer survived... he wasn't with us when the rest of the ship broke... I wonder if anyone survived..."

"Stormer?" The boy echoed, puzzling but only thinking of the Toa of fire Storm.

"Yeah." Bulk replied, though his gaze remained on the trails of debris. "... Preston Stormer, the leader of Alpha Team. Best team leader to ever be created in Hero Factory, I say. Impossible to miss too; his armor's white as snow unless something get him dirty, and even then he's hard to miss."

"Pris...ton?" Takiu stumbled over the completely new word, "How many were with you? Team...like a normal toa team?"

"Hm? Oh, there's six of us on Alpha Team." Bulk responded with a small smile. "It'd just been three of us until a while ago. That was when Breez, Furno, and Surge got assigned to the team. There's other Hero teams too, but for Alpha team, it's just us six."

"Like a Toa team!" Takiu marveled, now looking just at Bulk as he held on. "Are you elementals too?"

Bulk raised an optic ridge. "Elemental? As in, able to control things with a flick of my hand? Nah, not really. We do, however, get weapons that can mimic something like that... well, the others do anyway. I stick to a ball launcher. Stormer though, he's got a fancy weapon that lets him shoot out ice that freezes over someone's arm on contact, and it also lets him create an ice sword. Then there's Surge, who's got shock blasters. Those can be handy. Furno's got a fire weapon of some sort, Stringer's got a sonic blast gun, and Breez... I'm still working on figuring out how her air boomerang thing works."

"What's a ball launcher?" Takiu asked, mentally chewing though everything else said, "Is it like a Kanoka disk launcher, or thorax launcher the Glatorian use?"

"Uh... not really sure what those are." Bulk responded, reaching into his subspace and pulling out a large weapon that seemed to take his whole arm to support. In fact, it seemed to be wrapped fully around his arm, as though turning the appendage into a weapon.

"Here, this is what I use." He remarked with a small smile. "It shoots out large balls of metal at whatever my target is really, really fast."

"Of metal?" the boy echoed as he basically crawled over the mech's head and shoulders to get a look, "Like, pop-bang or pop-whack?"

The mech started to laugh, reaching over with his free hand and popped out one of the large metal balls he used as ammunition. "More like pop-ouch." As for the ball, it appeared to be around the size of a softball, if not a bit larger.

The young Po-Matoran leaned forward, reaching out for the ball with curiosity and want to see and explore in what Bulk would find was a rather normal hands-on way. At least, with the Matoran.

Bulk was more than happy to let the boy look at and hold the ball. "You can have it if you want. I've got loads more where that came from."

Going by the sheer weight of the ball, Takiu would've been able to tell that this ball was made of solid metal, through and through. Definitely a heavy duty piece of ammunition.

"Oof!" The boy dropped his Kohlii stick to hang onto it, then Takiu lost his balance and started to fall forward over Bulk's chest with a squeak.

The mech reacted right away, catching the staff with his fingers, and then catching Takiu so he didn't get hurt. "Sorry, probably should've told you it was heavy. You alright, Takiu?"

"I can see your armor now!" came a slightly muffled but not completely yip, the Po-Matoran dangling upside-down where he was basically pined against Bulk's chest to keep from falling. "Very shiny."

Bulk blinked at that before chuckling and kneeling so he could set the boy safely on the ground. First though, he put his gun away so he could use both hands, carefully putting the boy upright and setting him down. "Sorry 'bout that."

The ball dropped in the process, Takiu staring down at it until his kicking feet touched as well, then with a determined huff stooped to get a hold. He tried for a good half minute before getting the solid thing up to his center of gravity. It seemed to be a test of stubbornness as Takiu chirped in somewhat strained victory, then dropped it again. "I did it!"

The mech laughed quietly as he watched with amusement, seeming highly entertained. "So you did. Good job, kiddo; wasn't sure if you'd be able to lift it that high after it was on the ground. All that climbing and adventuring is getting you nice and strong, isn't it?" As he said this, he reached over and picked up the metal ball, rolling it absently in his palm while he watched Takiu.

The boy puffed up at the praise, "You really think so?" He deflated a little seeing how effortless Bulk lifted the ball and grasped at his free fingers in order to look.

"I do indeed." The mech responded, smiling in amusement as he watched the child's reactions. "And you know what? I think that, when you're all grown up, you'll be able to heft this thing around as easily as I can, if not easier."

Little did the Hero know, at least until he met a Po-Matoran, adult male and what they could do.

For now, the child was wide eyed, the tri-colors bright even in the daylight, "Will you be here to see me?"

"Well, that depends on what happens." Bulk responded, shrugging as he thought it over. "But if I'm still around and able, I'll make sure to do that. I want to see you be stronger than me someday, because I know you can probably get yourself tougher than me. I can't make myself stronger after all."

"Why can't you too?" Takiu asked, looking up and his puff-ness was put on hold.

"I don't exactly have a muscle structure like yours." He explained, shifting and moving his armor so Takiu could see the framework and wiring underneath. "My strength is dependent on what happens in here, and behind my chestplate. I can't train to get stronger. The only way for me to get tougher is get upgraded."

"Upgrade?" Takiu echoed, putting his hands on the new type of metal and peeking in where allowed, and then at the armor itself. He touched the visible stress lines, "Doesn't these hurt?"

"Those lines? Nah, not really. Not unless you put more pressure on them." Bulk responded. "For the moment it just feels like you're leaning on me. It almost tickles a little, actually." He then grimaced. "As for upgrading? ... Not a whole lot. I haven't had any massive upgrades yet, but so far the most that happens is a bit of twinging." He grimaced a bit. "I haven't needed a full-body upgrade before though... not many people get those, and I've heard they can hurt a bit."

"I hope you don't need one if it hurts," Takiu worried, tucking his hands behind his back.

The mech offered Takiu a reassuring smile. "Part of me hopes so too, kiddo. But think of it this way; with that brief moment of pain... if I do get a full upgrade like that... think of how many more people I could help because of being better equipped, and stronger. Sometimes pain is a necessary part of our lives, and if all I need is to spare... oh, an hour at the most, feeling hurt, in order to protect that many more people... I'm not afraid to face it. It would mean I could protect tons of other kids, some your size, some different, that much better."

Takiu thought his words over, and Bulk could see that the boy was chewing it out mentally. "So... sometimes ouches are worth it? But how do you know..." He tailed off, thinking of the stories he heard.

"That's the problem with some ouches." The veteran Hero responded. "You just don't know. But hey, let's not dwell on that, okay? We've got more entertaining things to focus on than ouches."

"But you need to see a Ga-Matoran," Takiu said pointing at the stress marks, "Carrier said to find a healer if I find those on me or someone else."

"I don't know if I'll be able to heal the same way, Takiu." Bulk responded, glancing at the marks and grimacing a bit. "I don't have a shred of organic material to me at all. I'm wires, metal, and a few other things like that. Closest thing to organic that I've got is my Hero core."

"But Matoran aren't all organic," Takiu said holding his arms out, "I'm just little, and sire has more armor and metal then carrier does."

"I'm not a Matoran though." The mech reminded him, indicating his wiring before closing his armor up, making sure Takiu wouldn't get pinched in it somehow as he did so. "I was built in a factory. If there was any part of me that was organic..." He paused to think about it before smiling a bit. "Well, that would be something new and adventurous, wouldn't it?"

"It's still not healthy..." The boy said, still worried, and climbed up the kneeling Hero to hug him around the neck. "Po-Koro's not that far away."

"Well, if you figure we can find someone who can help me," Bulk replied, shifting and carefully hugging the boy in return. "We can head towards Po-Koro and see what we can do. If you want to keep exploring though it's just fine; I've been through a lot worse than this." He smiled as he said that, as though going through a ship crash hadn't been a big deal even if it looked like it.

The Matoran child looked around and held on, "exploring can wait, or explore on the way back. But I don't think you would go on another adventure with lines, or if you're friends are missing."

"Very well then, we'll head to Po-Koro." The mech confirmed. "... Who knows? Maybe one of my friends showed up there while you were out here with me."

"Maybe Toa Pohatu or Hewkii found them?" Takiu offered, looking to where they had come from, and then glanced upwards as movement caught his eyes, but it was way up there.

"It would be a nice surprise to be sure." Bulk agreed, glancing around before moving to stand up, though he gave Takiu plenty of time to either let go or scramble back onto the mech's shoulders if he wanted to.

He seemed content to hang on and cling like a barnacle, but pointed to his prized kohlii stick and talon so not to be forgot. Takiu still had his bag on over his shoulder.

The mech couldn't help but chuckle at this, and as such put one arm underneath the boy to help support him in his clinging, and reached down to pick up the child's Kohlii staff with the other. "There we go." He remarked, smiling as he fully stood up. "Okay, which direction are we headed in?"

"Back, to the trail of weird metals until you see the great temple dome in the distance," the boy said, pointing back down the hill.

"Great temple dome... Alright. Not sure what the great temple is, but hey, it sounds big so it'll probably be easy to spot." As he said this, he started off in the direction indicated, humming as he went.

As for Takiu, he'd have felt warmth where Bulk's core plate was, warm and rather enjoyable to touch.

The self proclaimed to be chronicler and Toa stared at the emblem. He poked it with that harmless child curiosity, no harm was remotely, just seemingly attracted to the living energy.

Bulk seemed surprised, and curious about the gesture, chuckling in amusement as he remarked. "Cool, isn't it? The source of my energy, and just ability to live in general, rests beneath that odd plate. I can probably show you what's behind the plate later, but you can't touch it, alright?"

"Like a heart light?" Takiu asked, looking down at his own in the middle of his chest that was glowing yellow.

"Hm... Not fully sure. Could be though." Bulk replied "think of it like a heart, and a battery, among a couple other things."

"What's a battery?" He said the word slowly, as the translation stone didn't have a link yet for it.

"An energy source." The mech clarified, smiling a bit as he considered it. "Engines have batteries, or battery-like things in them to keep them running, and able to start up when someone needs whatever machine they're trying to work with."

The boy blinked both sets of lids, trying to find a link and only came up with two, "like solar energy or a power stone?"

"A power stone." Bulk remarked, smiling and seeming relieved that there was something he could equate it to. "That sums up my core nicely. Though I'm not sure if power stones here need to be recharged sometimes."

"Some of them you have to leave in the sun for a day, or even a year!" Takiu nodded, shifting in Bulk's hold, "Or you have to wait for a lightning storm... I don't like those, its scary and I heard it sounds like what happens when a Toa is mad..."

"I take it Toa can get pretty scary when they're upset?" The mech inquired, his curiosity seeming to be leading him to asking about it.

"I don't think a Toa has been mad-mad for a really long time!" Takiu added, looking up.

Bulk smiled at that. "Well, that's probably a really good thing. By the sounds of it, nasty stuff can happen when they get legitimately angry."

"Toa are the elements!" Takiu said, looking around and back to the mech. "I did see when Toa Pohatu and Onua close the tare though!"

"Oh?" The mech asked, his expression showing interest and obvious curiosity. "What was it like?"

"Boom!" The Matoran child threw out his arms and waved them about, and it was a good thing that Bulk had a hold of him, as well. And being the one to hold the staff or Takiu might have either fallen down or bonked the mech in the head a few times. "We heard it all the way back at the great temple! And there was this giant ~fwoosh!~ of rocks and earth and big boulders up in the air! And the temple was shaking from the bio-quake and someone said that it was felt all those bios away to Vulcanus and Metru Nui!"

The veteran blinked, but grinned at his enthusiasm, seeming highly entertained by Takiu's elaborate storytelling. "Wow... sounds like that was an amazing display to be sure. A tremor like that... wow... just wow..."

Takiu giggled and hid his masked face against the silver armor for a moment, "I think they woke up the Great Spirit from his nap...but we didn't see the Nuva for a whole eight-day."

"They were probably plum tuckered out." Bulk remarked with a laugh. "I wouldn't blame them either; fixing a planet would be a lot of hard work."

"But that's when I saw Him..." Takiu added, even just remembering he had an awed tone.

"Saw who?" The mech inquired.

"Taka Nuva," the boy breathed, "He's like and not like the story carvings. The Toa of light is as big as _Onua_! And he had a staff of light too!"

"I... don't exactly know how big that is, but I'll assume it's really big." Bulk remarked, seeming amused and curious all at once.

Takiu tried to think of how to explain, and finally came up with, "Sire's almost as big as you, and he didn't even come up to Toa Taka's knee."

That seemed to be a reasonable size scale demonstration, because Bulk's optics seemed to widen in surprise. "They're... they're THAT big? Some of the villains I've fought are that big! How big are the sorts of things your Toa have had to fight?"

"Taka had to fight the Makuta, and the rest of the Nuva," the boy blinked innocently. The shear size was something he was used to, and welcomed by Matoran culture. "Turaga says that some if the old bad Rahi were that big or bigger."

"I don't know how big a Makuta is, or what a Rahi is, but by the sounds of it, I'd be a metal Frisbee if one of them stepped on me." He remarked, seeming highly intrigued, and perhaps a little unnerved. Only slightly, mind you.

"I only saw the carving on the Chronicle Wall. The two big Makuta are on it that are left," the boy looked up, and deciding to take Bulk to the temple to see the stories. He looked up at movement above, blinking and squinting, having to close the inner lid to cut out the glare from the sun.


	10. He needs a hero!

Now the mech seemed to notice that something up above was distracting Takiu, so he too looked up. "What's going on?"

"There's something up there but I don't have good lids to block out the light." The Po-Matoran child had to look back down to shake his head and blink before rubbing his eyes.

Bulk frowned a bit, using his free hand to shield his eyes and try to get a better look at the odd something up above. "Got any guesses on what it might be? I don't want to try shooting if it's supposed to be friendly."

"I can't see." The boy shook his head and then shrugged, but looked at the debris that they were now closer to.

The mech shrugged slightly as well. "Oh well. We'll probably find out sooner or later." That said, he turned his gaze back to their surroundings, seeming surprised when he saw a glint of green metal up ahead. Hurrying closer, he seemed almost excited... up until he saw that the bit of green was just a broken piece of metal. "... Breez...? ... I hope she's still okay, wherever she landed..."

"It's not windy until night." Takiu pointed out innocently, twisting around to see the green thing and sat up.

Bulk shook his head as he crouched and picked the piece of metal up. "Not that kind of breeze. I'm talking about one of my team mates; Natalie Breez... she wears... or wore, green armor. This looks like it's a piece of it. I can't really see any other parts of her though, so hopefully she's alright, and still mostly intact."

The boy had claimed his kohlii stick to free up the mech's other hand and looked at the chunk. "It's painted green?"

He nodded as he looked the piece of green metal over, turning it in his hand and sighing faintly. "Yes. Breez' armor is always green, just like Stormer's is always white, and Furno's is always red."

The Matoran child had to brace it on Bulk's shoulder as he couldn't support the armor chunk and his staff. With a chirp and meep, that were just cute in almost any culture, he sniffed, poked and even gave a small nibble to an edge. "What is it?"

The mech seemed surprised at what the boy did. "... Metal? I never really stopped to ask what we Heroes get our armor made out of. All I know is it's tough stuff that can endure a lot more than most other metals can. If it wasn't, we wouldn't really be able to do half the stuff we get into. The armor can also have specific stuff added to it. For example, Furno's armor is acid-proof. Could hit him with a full-on blast of it and he'd be able to shrug it off."

"Doesn't feel like the stuff the Agori tool maker uses..." Takiu tilted his head as he scooted the piece of armor over for the mech to take back. He looked back at were it came from, then perked at hearing shifting sand and rocks. There was just a moment and he leaned back to look straight down. "What's that?"

"Hm?" Bulk asked, looking down as well to try and figure out what Takiu was looking at. "What's what?" His curiosity was easy to see, and while he probably wasn't as curious about things as the Matoran was, he definitely was showing interest.

"I hear falling rocks." The boy said and pointed to were he thought it was, under a slab of hull plating.

"Oh? Hm..." He shifted to try and set the boy down now, his optics fixed on the piece of plating and showing obvious curiosity. "Let's see if I can move that out of the way. We might be able to figure out what's going on if I can."

"That's bigger than before!" Takiu pointed out as he scrambled up some of the bed rock to perch there and watch.

"And?" The mech inquired, seeming rather amused as he stood up straight, stretched a bit, rolled his shoulders, and then walked over to the piece of metal. At first, he just hesitated, seeming to be judging what would be the best spot to start from, and soon deciding. That done, he took hold of the wreckage, dug in his heels, and pulled. Despite the weight of the metal, Bulk managed to get it lifted high enough to push it over, though by the time it was moved he seemed as though it had strained him a fair bit to move it. "... well... let's see what we've got, eh?"

"It's a big hole," the boy observed, taking note if aloud as a chronicler would. He hoped. "And slope-y-ish."

And it was, an indentation like someone who had been stuck under the slab of hull platting had slid back dispute a scramble and into the hole. As they watched more sand and rocks slipped into the darkness as the hole expanded another foot out.

The mech gave a small nod as he knelt near the edge and studied the situation. "... Looks like someone fell in too." He pointed out, indicating the tell-tale signs so Takiu could spot them more easily. "The question is though... who?" A thoughtful look crossed his face, though just what he was debating wasn't fully clear. He was, however, likely considering if this may have been one of his team mates.

"Well... It wasn't a Toa or Kora?" The boy offered, staying on the safety of solid rock. He giggled though, "One would be stuck sstill!"

Bulk chuckled a little. "They're too big for a hole this size, eh? Well, that narrows it down to..." He paused to think a bit. "A Matoran, a Hero, or... what was that other thing you mentioned? Agouti? ... No that's not it..."

"Agori." Takiu said slowly, to make sure he got it right.

"Ah... Go... Ree... okay, got it." The mech responded, nodding once. "Agori... how big are they anyway? Would one of those fit down the hole too? Just so I know for later reference."

Takiu thought about it as he watched the mech to see what he'd do. "Manu isn't any bigger than you...maybe smaller, she's Matoran size."

"Alright. Hm..." Bulk looked back down the hole, lifting a hand to his helmet and trying to activate something. After a few seconds of nothing happening though, he gave up and sighed. "Rats, my flashlight broke... Well, now we can't really see just how deep this goes." He looked back at Takiu. "What's your call? Stay here, or move on and come back to it later?"

"I don't like it in the dark..." The boy said, on the surface it was different with two moons reflecting light and so many stars... Underground in Onu-Koro was dark and no light if your away from the light stones.

The veteran bot gave a small nod of understanding. "We'll leave it be for now then. Maybe we'll find someone who can check it out for us later on. What matters though, is that we found the hole before somebody else fell into it."

"Buts it's going to get dark, what if someone falls in that can't see? You moved the big metal thing." Takiu asked and it was simple in that child like way and in that way he did have a good point.

"... Good thinking." The mech remarked after a pause to consider what Takiu had suggested. Getting up fully, he shifted a bit before walking back over to the large chunk of ship and set about putting it back in place. "There. That should keep it covered, for now at the very least."

"Do you think so?" The Po-Matoran perked up again, tri-colored eyes wide at the praise. "And are you going to be okay? You look tired." Takiu added, not seeing the sweep of wings above.

"I do think so." Bulk agreed, turning to look at Takiu. "It's a perfect cover for the hole." He then smiled reassuringly as he walked back over to the boy. "Yeah, I'll be alright for a while yet. Trust me; I've been in far worse situations than this. Nearly died a few times in my day too. This though? This is- huh?" He seemed to have noticed the flying motions, and was now distracted. "What was that?"

"What-" Takiu started to ask as he looked up.

Just in time to see the multi sets of legs closing in on him. The Matoran child promptly screamed as would be expected given the swooping grab and flee. But the... giant dragonfly like creature had moved too fast ahead of its hunting wing mate that was a few body lengths behind and aiming for the Hero with splayed legs.

Bulk had his ball launcher out and ready within moments, already backing up and firing on the creature that was flying his way. However, he only got off three shots before turning and bolting, trying to keep up with the one that had grabbed Takiu, as well as trying to figure out how he could get the child back from it without hurting him. "Hang on, Takiu; I'm coming!"

"Rama! Rama!" The boy was screaming, and sounding honest to the core terrified for the first time. These predators survived and migrated to the new world, but the nui rama were big enough that an one on one fight with an adult Matoranwas almost evenly matched, and a fifty-fifty chance of if not winning than doing damage with those fang filled mandibles to protodermis. One good bite here and now, and that was it for the Po-Matoran child with his thin armor and body that was, as well as be a little more organic then an adult would be.

The mech seemed almost to be powered up by Takiu's cries, increasing his speed as much as he dared before opening fire on the massive creature. He was aiming for the wings, hoping that he could knock it out of the sky, or at least make it drop Takiu.

The rapid beating of the double set of wings saved them from damage, but not from being clipped as the Rama-creature dipped back lower into the ten foot range. It swung to the left to favor the wings on that side, screeching in an insect like way, the sound echoed from the second predator as it got back into the air, stinger sliding out of the tail but forming a ball of dark looking energy in its mandibles.

Hearing that the second 'big ugly' was up and buzzing again didn't seem to make Bulk any more relaxed, but that was rather understandable considering the situation. Frowning a bit, he shot again, aiming for the first Rama's undamaged wings in the hopes he could knock it down before the creature behind him could get in close to attack.

What the mech didn't know, however, was that the massive creature had more tricks than just the stinger, and as such was completely unaware of the growing danger behind him.

"Spitfire!"

A new voice yelled just before something tackled Bulk, sending his next shot at an angle to impact the Rama holding Takiu on the thorax, making it warbled and sink lower. But he also wasn't hit by the dark ball of energy that crackled over the ground where he had been.

The adult Matoran rolled and bounced back onto his feet, a staff not unlike Takiu's in hand, only larger and made of metal. He kicked up a stone the size of a two hands, then twisted to add momentum as the hammer slammed the rock and sent it back to the Rama behind.

"What the- oof!" Bulk took a moment or two to pick himself up, having not expected this sudden 'attack'. However, as soon as he was back on his feet, he fired on Takiu's captor again, deciding to say thanks to his own savior once the child was safe again.

"Get the kid- aim for the eyes!" the Matoran yelled as he distracted the second Rama, not shy at all about leaping up to hit it directly.

"On it!" And like that, Bulk was off at a run once again to try and keep up, shooting at the first creature whenever he got a shot at its face, eyes in particular. "Come on... a good hit would be nice right around now..."

It lifted higher, turning to hover and try and form a ball of that same energy as the second did, the only trouble- for it, was that the Rama had to stay in place to do so.

This pause was the perfect opening that the mech needed, and he wasted no time in opening fire on the Rama's face, aiming to hit its eyes at least twice if he got lucky enough. "Now that I have your attention..."

The first impacted and it jerks with a scream of pain, then again as the second hit as well. Reflexively dropping its still flailing prey to shoot straight up and cover its vulnerable eyes with the legs.

Though happy to be free, Takiu didn't really show it and that was understandable as he fell. More than a good ten or twelve feet up at his small size it might as well been fifty.

Bulk surged forward, putting his gun away as he jumped, managing to catch Takiu before any more damage could be done, and twisting himself so he landed on his back, Takiu held close, but not painfully so. Wincing a he landed, the mech shuddered a bit before he sat up. "I think I landed on a rock... that's going to hurt later..." He then shook his head and looked at the boy in his arms with high and obvious concern. "Are you alright?" It could be noticed that he was keeping watch on the flailing Nui Rama up above too; he didn't want that thing to go after him again without being ready to deal with it.

Above the rahi predators were flying in circles, both blinded, whacked into each other and then were pelted with flying rocks to distract and harass the creatures into realizing this was just too painful and too much trouble here. Blindly they rose higher and off, whacking into each other several more times and almost tangling wings.

"And stay away!" The adult Po-Matoran threw one more rock at the Rama, waving his staff before planting it, it was nearly as tall as him at six feet. He huffed and growled softly watching to be sure for a few seconds to see if any others showed up before turning and trotting over to the mech and the ball of shivering armor, "Mata Nui, is he okay? Any bites?"

Bulk gave the Matoran a small shake of his head, looking Takiu over with incredible concern, but sighing with relief after a moment. "He's fine... just very, very frightened..." Turning his gaze to the Po-Matoran again, he said. "Thanks for your help. I'd have been toast without your assistance."

He then looked back at Takiu. "Hey kid, say something okay? Anything. Could even say a flat up lie if you wanted to, like... oh I don't know, your feet are purple." Sure the suggestion was rather odd, but the mech seemed to know what he was doing. If he could get the child talking, it might help him recover.

"Not purple..." A tiny voice said.

The mech wouldn't be the only one to sigh as the Po-Matoran adult knelt down beside Bulk. He fished out a packet from subspace and pulled a thing that looked like two types of candy twisted together. Offering it to the boy and smiled as Takiu latch on to it and hid against Bulk's armor now instead of balling up.

"Its okay, you're safe now," He purred, looking to the mech and smirked in that Bionicle way, "And saved by a tiny Toa-Hero! Heh, go on and eat it, sweet roots help with the shakes. It's all over now, clear skies!"

"Alright then, your feet aren't purple." Bulk said with a soft chuckle as he smiled at Takiu, his motor system thrumming and vibrating his frame a little while he held onto the boy.

Satisfied in knowing that the child was going to be alright, the mech turned his gaze to the Matoran adult. "Just doing my job, sir." He responded, deciding he could fuss over the details of not being a legitimate Toa later on. "Wouldn't have been right if I just let something bad happen."

"Not just Toa can be heroes," The Matoran chuckled as he patted the odd armor, "Nor apart of the Guard. I'm Hafu," He grinned as Takiu gave a squeak and peeked up.

The mech smiled at that, and gave a small nod of his head. "It's nice to meet you, Hafu. The name's Duncan, but everyone 'round where I'm from just calls me Bulk." He then looked curiously at Takiu, as though wondering if the boy had gotten pinched due to the squeak, but seeing that the boy was okay, he relaxed fully again.

"...the Hafu?" Takiu squeaked again, eyes widening as he clucked at Bulk's arm.

"The very one," Hafu never lost his grin as he bowed playfully and knelt back down with his staff resting on one shoulder. He pulled out as small thing, a very intricately carved ruby in the shape of what almost looked like a feline or kitten, but had that same bio-mechanical look to it as the Rama and Matoran. "Here."

The boy took it, calming down with distractions and reassurances. He looked up to blue optics and showed the solid gemstone carving.

The mech seemed curious about what the big deal was about Hafu, but he decided he'd learn it in time, and as such just smiled before looking at the carving that Takiu was showing him. "Wow... that's some quality craftsmanship there." He remarked, sounding quite intrigued, and impressed.

"Never show or give something that isn't the best," The Po-Matoran Hafu had a grin on his mask that never left, and he seemed almost not really too-proud. That level were he knew he was just that good, but also trying to keep himself in check.

Bulk chuckled in amusement. "Displaying the best is what all artisans aim to do, am I right?" He remarked, expression showing he was rather intrigued. "I take it you've been at your craft a long time, eh?"

"With the lost time, a good two thousand years." Hafu shrugged and then stood, "I think we should go back to the Koro and him checked over."

"Two... thousand?" Bulk repeated, seeming highly surprised at this, though he soon shook it off as he too stood up. "Well, certainly explains why you're so good at it. And yes, that sounds like a good idea. Poor kid..." He shook his head a little before glancing around. "... Which direction is it?"

"That way," Hafu pointed with the scoop of his staff, "A good lope, no more than a bio-length away. Think you can do it," He tilted his head, noting the stress marks in the metal much faster than Takiu did.

"Oh yeah, I can manage that." The bot responded with a small shrug, seeming almost oblivious to his own damage. That or he was just ignoring it. "... Are you coming to? Or are you off to do something else?"

"Nah, I was coming to this Po-Koro anyways to check out the new quarries," He turned and ahead to lead the way for now. Glancing back and making a motion of a silent question, wanting to know if he should take the child.

Bulk shook his head a little, implying that he was fine to carry Takiu. In fact, he seemed like he rather wanted to. "Ah, I see. It'll be nice to have another person along."

"Another set of eyes," Hafu agreed, looking up to the sky as he picked up the speed, seeming just as used to distance running as he was carving. In fact his build was an odd mix almost, but was also fitting, having an expected powerful build of a stone worker, with broad shoulders and chest, powerful arms and study armor that was worn tan-gold with undertones of a darker brown hide.

There was also something athletic about the Matoran, in how he moved was a little to graceful. As if used to sudden movements and needing to act or react fast.

The mech hurried along after Hafu as quickly as he could. While sharing some qualities with the adult Matoran, such as a sturdy build and powerful limbs, Bulk wasn't exactly the type who looked like he could win a foot race. He was built for heavy lifting, tanking damage, and not much else, seemingly.

"Yeah, having another set of eyes will be useful, especially if those bugs fly back here for a rematch."

"Wouldn't be them, take a few days for Rama to heal their eyes, likely another set." Hafu sped up to make a jump up to a rock formation and looking around from there. "Rama shouldn't be out this far though, I want to know where they came from..." The Matoran Carver tapped his staff on the rock before hopping down, he hadn't seen those rahi that aggressive and bold since the time of the Toa Mata.

Bulk did his best to follow after Hafu, though he was a bit slower and more careful with his movements, likely a mix of not wanting to drop or shake up Takiu, as well as the damages of his body slowing him up a bit. "Where do those... Rama, things, usually show up at? Are they always this nasty?"

"Jungle Wahis mostly, but the hives are kept small and few, and their not that big any more- it was almost as big as me!" Hafu huffed, glad he kept up on his training. "They shouldn't be anywhere near this Wahi."

"Hm..." The bot seemed to thrum quietly as he considered the different situations and potential reasons. "... perhaps something stirred them up or drove them out of their home area?"

Hafu shrugged, "I don't know, I hope not. It took forever the last time there was just one out of control hive."

"How big are hives, generally?" Bulk inquired, an optic ridge raising a bit a he spoke.

"Right now," Hafu considered, "Eh, about twenty, back in the Dark Time hives ran a few hundred."

"Yikes... sounds almost as bad as some of the hive planets I've seen." The mech remarked, shivering a little at the thought of it. "I can't imagine having a few hundred of those things all after someone at once. That'd be devastating."

"Its why Le-Matoran back at The Island had long spears, and we all got really fast." Hafu said as he slid into a long distance stride that was a lope, not a jarring jog.

Bulk kept up for the most part, tailing a little bit behind as he hurried along. "Yeah, one would have to be fast to get away from those... I'm just glad those two didn't do anything to Takiu... nothing permanently damaging, at least."

"Me too, but why are you two way out here?" Hafu looked back and slowed down.

The veteran Hero gave an awkward little laugh. "The ship I was in blew up and Takiu found me way out in the middle of wherever that was."

"Ship?" Hafu echoed, frowning now, "there's no hover crafts this far from Metru Nui."

"It... wasn't exactly a hovercraft." The bot explained with a small laugh of sorts. "More like a flying vehicle capable of carrying people to and from different planets. I'm really not from around here in the slightest."

"A space ship?" Hafu stopped, turning to face the mech. Surprised to say the least but at the same time not shocked. The concept of Bulk being an alien mecha wasn't hard for him at all. "No one but a few strays has come to Spherus Magna since before the Shattering."

"You mean my team and I aren't the only space travelers who've dropped by?" Bulk inquired, his expression showing confusion, and curiosity, at this news.

"The first in a good dozen centuries." The Carver looked up at the sky that was starting to become a noticeable few shades darker. "Ish."

He laughed quietly at the response. "Let's just leave it at a very long time then, yeah?" While Hafu glanced to the sky, Bulk's gaze went to Takiu to see how the boy was holding up.

The boy was nibbling or sucking on the candy he'd been given, and looked up to Bulk. "Um?" The child blinked, Takiu biting off a piece to chew on. "If vood." He informed his saver, having been watching him for a while.

The mech chuckled with warm amusement. "I can tell. You've been having yourself a right nice time sucking on that. Nice to see you're cheered up again."

"Never had it before." Takiu said, not in the least minding being held and carried like he was. It was reassuring really, more than that.

"Sweet root helps with the shakes," Hafu chuckled as he started waking again, "Love those twists myself, almost always have some with me." He adjusted his heading a bit, so they were heading straight to a domed shape in the semi distance. It had been there the whole time, but when paying closer attention the new group could see it clearly.

Bulk smiled at the child in amusement before looking at Hafu, raising an optic ridge as he hurried along to keep up. "Sounds like they're quite the treat." He remarked before glancing up ahead. "... That dome there... that's where we're going?"

"Yes, that's the Kini Nui of this wahi. A strong hold now from what I was told the Po-Matoran made of it." Hafu grinned at that even as he remembered his first village's fall. The confustion of that attack, "I like that, the Koro's not far so it's a good landmark."

"It certainly does stand out." The mech agreed, his tone implying that he wasn't meaning it stood out in a bad way. "Not sure what a Kini Nui is though. Mind explaining?"

"A great temple." Takiu piped up, shifting as he nibbled on his treat some more.

Hafu grinned back at them, "Yep. But it's also the transport hub of a Wahi now as well."

"Sound interesting. Not sure why a temple would be a transport hub, but hey, I won't question it." He remarked, smiling as he looked at Hafu. "I don't know much 'bout this world so I'm not about to question anything."

"Hubs are put there to be protected and space to channel the energies needed." Hafu snorted, rolling his eyes, "rather stupid to have all that inner workings exposed out of the rocks and protodermis to be tampered with.

Bulk seemed a little confused still, but shrugged a bit. "Eh, whatever works best, right? So long as things aren't going to get messed up, things are just fine."

"Thus a great temple sitting on all of it." Hafu huffed, back into a lope, one eye on the darkening sky. "Can you go faster? If Rama are in the area I don't want to be in the dark- whoa!" He flailed as something big flashed by, and yelled even if he knew it was useless as he toppled over from the wind, "Makuta bones Pohatu don't do that!"


	11. Something New

The mech just about dropped Takiu at that, stumbling a bit, but keeping himself upright, and Takiu in his arms, as he regained himself. "What was that?" Bulk asked with confusion, stopping and turning to look at Hafu. He would've likely offered the Matoran a hand up, but considering that he was presently holding Takiu and trying not to drop the boy, it made sense that he didn't.

A deeper voice laughed from above and a shadow passed over Bulk, as an impossibly large form stepped over the mech and crouched down to scoop up Hafu and then set him up. "That never gets old!"

"Yes it does!" Hafu yelled, slapping at clawed hands of an earthy tan shade, than whacked the nearer knee of the giant with his staff.

"Whoa!" Bulk all but yelped- that is, if such a thing were possible with a voice as deep as his, staring up at the large being with confusion and surprise. "... Hello up there?"

Pohatu Nuva turned, his attention shifting to the mech as he arched an eye ridge in surprise, not at all affected by the scolding. Just letting it roll past, "What's this? His not an Agori, and hello in there little Takiu."

The mech raised an optic ridge as well, as he stared up at Pohatu. "I'm not exactly from around here." He responded. "Most people just call me Bulk." That probably would've sounded like a joke considering the huge size difference, but still, couldn't very well lie about what he was called.

"He's an off worlder," Hafu explained, throwing his arms up after giving up on trying to yell at the Toa he knew for so long. "Apparently he and some others didn't hear that they should avoid Spherus Magna like everyone else out there has done, and crashed. Likely from the planet's outer energy field shook their ship up too much."

Bulk looked curiously at Hafu now, his expression showing confusion. "If the energy around this planet is so dangerous though, why would someone send Hero Factory a distress call requesting help?"

"The what?" Hafu and Pohatu had matching expressions of confusion.

"A...factory?" The Toa added.

"Yeah." The bot responded with a faint shrug. "I was built there, just like the rest of my team. Hero Factory is... well, just what the name says, really. They build Heroes, like me, and we go out and protect the universe. It's pretty much what I live for; protecting and helping people."

"Like a Toa!" Takiu blurted out from where he was held and clinging in return to Bulk.

"Little short," Pohatu held a hand down at the mech's height.

"Like a Toa!" Takiu insisted and after a pause, where the current Toa of stone gave a small vibration as he was holding back his mirth so not to offend the boy.

The bot smiled a little, chuckling quietly at Takiu's insistence. "Just doin' my job, really." He remarked to the boy before looking curiously at Pohatu, seeming not overly sure what the hand gesture was supposed to mean.

It seemed like just a repoint out the size differences, there was gentleness about the stone giant. And despite a permanent hunch in the neck and shoulders that should have made the yellow and brown Toa look intimidating like the last villain the Hero and his team faced.

But it didn't, not with that ridged and open...masked face.

The more Bulk looked at him, the more he began to wonder if Pohatu was somehow related to Rotor, but he pushed that thought out of his mind for the time being, and instead smiled awkwardly. "I guess this just goes to show size doesn't matter?"

"Not unless it's the size of your heart." Pohatu agreed.

"Or Core, in my case." The mech added, smiling up at Pohatu and giving a nod as though to further confirm their agreement. Despite the awkward similarities between Pohatu and Rotor, Bulk couldn't help but find himself rather enjoying the Toa's company. In fact, it almost reminded him of some of the times he and Stringer hung out.

"Pohatu, can you give us a ride to the village?" Hafu asked, though at this point he didn't have to. "Something is up, there's big Rama out here."

"Rama?" The Toa echoed even as he knelt down almost automatically, lowering one hand to let Hafu climb up and over arm and shoulders.

Bulk nodded as he watched Pohatu, his expression showing his own concern. "Mhm. They nearly had Takiu and I. Thankfully, Hafu showed up and got things fixed up."

"The many uses of a kohlii staff." Hafu preened, than yipped as he was poked.

Pohatu looked back down and offered his hand to Bulk, "Indeed, come on then my new shiny friend."

At first, the mech wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do, but after a second or two had figured it out, and carefully -still holding Takiu- got onto Pohatu's hand. He chuckled quietly at the Toa's words. "If you think this is shiny, you should see it after I get cleaned up."

Pohatu half rolled his shoulders to get Hafu to drop down onto his back, still having the grips in his armor for Matoran sized person to grip. At the same time he stood, Pohatu snickered as he had to hold Bulk not unlike he was doing with Takiu.

Needless to mention, Bulk found the situation awkward, embarrassing, and amusing all at once. "Well... can't say I've ever been carried like this before." He remarked almost jovially.

"Just hang on." Pohatu grinned as he tilted his head and then the mask he wore started to glow, the color shifted from tan to blue as he stood and took two long strides...

And the world surged forwards, no they were! It was like being on a ship's engine... Without the ship!

"Whoa!"

That was really all Bulk could say about the situation, finding himself subconsciously leaning against Pohatu as though half expecting he was going to get flung to Makuhero and back. At first, he seemed rather unsure about it, but after a while he just grinned.

Just before it got too much, the friendly giant like being was slowing down again and then stopped. He knelt down to let his passengers off, and helped support the Hero with a hand to the back he was standing on his own for the sake of the youngest, as well as to be friendly.

As for the mech himself, he seemed to be needing a little support for a couple seconds before he got his balance back, smiling brightly as he did so. "Not sure how you went that fast, but that has to be one of the most incredible ways I have ever traveled."

"It's his mask power!" Takiu touched his own Kanohi mask, still perfectly happy to stay were he was.

"Mask of speed, one of my Kanohi, but also my favorite." Pohatu chuckled as Hafu slid off his back. "Very useful."

"Mask power?" Bulk repeated, raising an optic ridge in a display of confusion. "Masks give you crazy powers here?"

"Only for Toa, Kora and Turaga." Hafu said, scratching the bottom edge of his own, "Not all Kanohi are active or at the same power level, thank Mata Nui." He paused as in the village to their right, the massive dome to the left, but he very distantly heard his own name being yelled, and some yelling were distinctly female.

And he was back to preening.

Bulk knew fans when he heard them, and chuckled quietly with amusement. "By the sounds of things, masks are quite important... And you're popular." He looked towards the source of the noise as he said this, seeming almost reminiscent of something, most likely something from his home world.

"Not the only one, but they're not used to seeing me." Hafu pointed up to Pohatu as the Toa stood, then the carver and athlete waved to the village and grinned at the reaction.

"Hafu's one of the best kohlii players ever!" Takiu spoke up, wiggling a bit at last, scanning the masks for his own parents, and then pointed them out. "Sire!"

"Ah," the bot remarked quietly, acknowledging the first part of what Takiu said before raising an optic ridge and looking to the pair that the boy had pointed out. Smiling in amusement, he asked. "Did you want me to set you down now so you can go say hello?"

"Yeah!"

Pohatu rumbled pointedly.

"Ah... Yes please?" Takiu corrected himself.

Bulk chuckled quietly in amusement as he nodded and set the boy down. "Alright, there you go." He then paused to glance at Pohatu, considering something for a moment before looking away again. He was probably trying to figure out what to think of the Toa.

"Don't worry, I ate four days ago, I'm not hungry enough to try and eat you yet." The stone Toa grinned down at Bulk.

The mech gave a reaction equitable to blinking, raised an optic ridge for a moment, and then started to laugh. "Well that is definitely good news. Actually I was just trying to figure something out, and you just confirmed it. You remind me a lot of one of my teammates. He's got the same casual attitude and knack for joking."

"I'll take that as a compliment!" Pohatu laughed, his voice only lightening a little because if his sheer mass. He smiled and looked after where Takiu ran off to get swooped up by his father. "Let's let Hafu deal with his fans, and we can have a talk about what happened to you Bulk."

He nodded cheerfully to the first remark. "Glad you will; Jimmi's one of the funniest guys on the team, and a good friend of mine." He then paused to glance at Hafu, the 'fan club', and finally to Takiu and his father. "Sounds like a good plan to me."

"The little one will likely pass out soon from what you both hinted at." Pohatu looked between village- that looked more like a small town than 'village' and the temple. Deciding that his shared Suva in the temple was quieter, motioned to one of arches that he only had to duck a little bit to make it. Thankfully for him it opened up for him to stand up.

The mech gave a quick nod, hurrying to keep up with Pohatu as he led Bulk inside. "I'm actually surprised he didn't conk out already." He remarked. "Poor kid was grabbed and just about carried off by those things... Rama? That was what they were called, I think... their giant bugs either way."

"Fragging annoying to fight," Pohatu snorted, motioning to a set of Matoran stairs that would lead to the next level but had a few balconies that would put Bulk chest height to a Toa. Almost eye level with this one's hunch. "You mentioned other off worlders like yourself?"

"That's right." Bulk agreed, hurrying up the steps after they were pointed at. "There are... or were... five others with me, each of us a different color. Stormer was the first one I lost track of; he was in the cockpit and it broke off before the rest of the ship tore apart. I haven't got a clue where he landed..." He then blinked and pulled out the piece of green metal he'd found earlier. "This was all I could find of Breez, but there was a hole near it so she very well could've ended up sliding underground."

"Onu-wahi," Pohatu muttered, making a note to back track the prints to find the hole.

"Onu-whaty?" The bot inquired, his expression showing his confusion.

"Wah-he," the Toa considered, looking at translation stone and tried another dialect. "The...wahi...region."

"... Ah, that makes sense now." Bulk remarked, seeming pleased to know this new bit of information. "You'll have to pardon that I don't know many terms. I didn't get the sort of translation capabilities that Breez got. I'm the heavy hitter on my team, and not much else."

He paused a moment to think it over a bit. "So... there's actually an underground region here too? Is there anything this world doesn't have?"

Pohatu chuckled, motioning at the carvings around them, the inside of the temple decorated more then the outside of the giant dome. It was still considered a newly made one.

"We don't know, not yet. The world was just put back together."

The bot looked around with curiosity as Pohatu motioned to the carvings. He didn't have a clue what the carvings met, but judging by the low whistle he made, he was certainly impressed. "I haven't got a clue what those all mean, but it looks like you've got a very full history."

"...I tend to leave it to the Chroniclers," Pohatu admitted with a chuckle, rubbing the back of head, "What about the others of your group, any ideas?"

"The others' locations? No not really." Bulk responded, pausing to think a bit. "... well, the cockpit broke off near... I think it looked like a marsh-ish area, so Stormer probably ended up in a mud puddle, if my guess is right. As for the others... I really don't know. When the ship broke I got hit pretty hard and lost track of my senses until Takiu found me."

He paused again before smiling a little. "I surprised him when I pushed the vehicle door off me though; he didn't think I could do it."

"Takiu doesn't have any umph, not yet." Pohatu laughed softly, looking back to the way they came into the temple. "So he doesn't know what he can do yet at half size let alone adult size, or what his sire can do."

"What sort of things will he be able to do when he's bigger?" Bulk asked curiously, his expression showing his interest.

The Toa shrugged, and then smirked as he said with great pride, "Po-Matoran are like Onu-Matoran. Once adult and healthy, they can heft up two three times their own weight."

The bot seemed highly impressed by this information. "Wow... Sounds like Takiu's going to be pretty tough once he gets even just some of his umph going on. I could even end up seeming like a lightweight if he gets really strong." He paused to consider the sheer size of who he was talking to and laughed. "I'm probably already seen as a lightweight as it is."

"You shouldn't judge your strength to another race's," Pohatu pointed out as he stood up fully to stretch.

"Wasn't judging." Bulk responded with amusement. "Was just laughing at how odd it might seem to someone of your height for me to be acting as though I'm a tough guy."

The giant rubbed the back of his head, "At the risk of sounding like my fiery brother, we Toa aren't exactly in a normal class, even for Bionicle."

"Oh? How so? I don't know much about the Toa other than we've got similar jobs." The tone he used when responding showed that he was quite curious, even if he wasn't the brightest lightstone in the mine.

"We are elements, not just users, we are our element," the brown and tan Toa tried to explain as he stepped up closer to the balcony. The tri-colored eyes focused on some of the loose pebbles and with a twitch, and a felt ripple of power, the small stones vibrated on the ground, dancing before lifting up a finger span. "We Toa are the Guardians of our world, of the land as well as the different people."

Bulk gave the impression of blinking as he looked curiously at the stones, watching with high interest. "Wow… Takiu told me about putting the world pieces back together and such, but… still, actually watching someone move the rocks around… that is cool."

"I haven't put a world back together," Pohatu shook his head, and glanced off to the far distance of memory, "That was Mata Nui; biggest I'd done is made a good bioquake and landslide."

"Ah." The mech responded, thinking it over a bit. "The way Takiu said it implied you and... Onan? ... No, that wasn't it... Onua? ... Something like that. You and Onua put it together. I'm not fully sure how it all went though."

"It may have seemed like that to him," Pohatu aloud with a soft laugh, "What happened is there was a...scar in the surface you can say." The Toa held his hands to make a deep V shape, "Too deep and dangerous, so my brothers and I created landslides until it was filled in and more even." The Toa widen the V shape to imply a wider and flatter crater shape instead.

Bulk smiled a bit as he nodded at that. "That makes sense, I suppose. No sense in leaving a ditch when the hazard could be gotten rid of, right?"

He paused a moment before giving a small shudder and sighing before sitting down. He appeared as though he were tired, as if the effect of his previous exertions were starting to catch up to him now. All the same though, he smiled at Pohatu while he waited for an answer.

"Very big ditch!" The Toa came over to lean on the balcony, "Are you okay friend?"

"I'm alright." The bot remarked, nodding once as though to try and assure Pohatu that it wasn't anything serious. "My Core's starting to run low on energy. I just have to take it slow for now and find some way to recharge before my energy's gone, that's all. Nothing too severe just yet."

"Energy?" Pohatu echoed as he tried to straighten up, but his hunched back just wouldn't. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Bulk explained. "I don't exactly run on an engine." As he said this, he fidgeted with the plate on his chest, popping it off and revealing a glowing, faintly pulsating circle, held in place by small latches. "That there," he remarked. "is my Hero Core. My heart, and my energy source."

Turning his gaze back to the Toa, Bulk continued. "If that were to be broken, or to fully lose its charge, I'd be dead. No restarts, no waking up. Just... dead." He put the Core plate back on after speaking. "As it is, I'm running a bit low, so I shouldn't do a whole lot more until I can find a way to recharge again."

The large Bionicle gave that same sort of interested click-chirrup sound that Takiu did before, and reached out to hock a claw carefully on Bulk's wrist to keep the mech from putting on the plate again. "What kind of crystal is that? I've never seen that before."

The mech seemed faintly surprised when Pohatu stopped him, but didn't fight back. "It's called Quaza." He replied, looking at his Core again. "It's a rare mineral that can be found deep within certain planets. It's probably the most powerful substance anyone from my neck of the universe knows, and only us Heroes... ehm... robotic Heroes, use them as power sources. They let us do things that other bots and beings generally can't do."

The stone giant sniffed at the air, regarding his core with an intent focus, a little innerving since it had a universal predator-like unwavering quality. But also something else was going on unseen, the mech could feel it through his exposed core, like a tugging sensation on the energy itself.

"Feels like energized protodermis in a crystallized state, though a little of the liquid state in the back... but not." Pohatu cocked his head to one side, "Bigger than most heart-light stones though."

Bulk tilted his head a little, not really sure what Pohatu meant by his words. "I... don't quite understand what you just said, but hey, if it makes sense to you I'm cool with it." He glanced at Pohatu again, an optic ridge raising a bit as he felt the unusual shifts in his Core's energy. "... mind my asking what you're doing to it?" He asked, sounding rather calm and unworried despite the fact he'd just said the Core was the main reason he was alive.

"Hmm..." Pohatu tapped his other claws on the stone of the flat balcony. Then with a swift motion, his other hand drew back from the core only for the clawed hand to snap out, claws hocking into Bulk's legs and tripped him up to sprawl backwards. Tugging the mech closer and speaking a word that the translated only to a hybrid wait/come.

"Hey, what?!" Bulk sputtered, finding himself on his back before he could really do or say much about it. He was about to try and sit up when he got tugged again, getting knocked over again and just giving up. "Well, you seem to know what you're doing, so I'll letcha do it. Just don't break me any more than I already am broke, okay?" He was surprisingly chill about the situation after getting the initial startle, and just let himself get dragged.

The Toa flashed a grin, holding the Hero down with one hand and then lifted his other hand, then flexed the claws out. A second pulsed by, and yellow-white energy crackled over fingers and claws before growing into a sphere of raw energy.

The mech's optics widened a little. "... would this be a good time to ask what you're doing?" He inquired, seeming a bit uneasy, but not really fighting back. He didn't want to waste his energy anyway.

"Going to try something. Hope it works!" The Toa lowered his hand, with the energy, intending on pressing it to the exposed core.

"What sort of something?" Bulk asked quickly, seeming a little more concerned now as he watched the energy draw closer to his Core. He shifted uncomfortably now, though only slightly. "Because this is looking like it might hurt a little."

"Likely will," Pohatu admitted, and he was one thing if nothing else. Was honest.

Then the pure elemental energy was pressing against the golden crystal. It was hot, heavy, there and not. Seeping into the Quaza core, filling the used energy 'space' with...stone. That elemental energy that was tied to the earth stone sacrificed itself to become, born and remade from molten lava's first heart.

The bot was about to comment again before his whole frame went rigid, optics widening again as he twitched and shuddered. However, as the energy seeped in, the light in his optics flickered, almost worryingly so. Several seconds later...

Bulk's frame went limp, his optics losing their glow as he shut down.


	12. A Little Cold

At first, Stringer barely knew what happened. One moment, he'd been sitting there beside Bulk, chatting with Surge about the last gaming session they'd played in their spare time, and the next, he was flying... no, falling. This was definitely falling. Even worse, his optics weren't working. "Well... this ain't what I had in mind for a way to spend my day."

A couple moments later, he felt himself impact against something. Something big. Something big that fell over, and left Stringer lying flat on his back on top of it. Flickers of light darted across his optics before they flashed once and turned on. "... well at least I can see now. That's always nice."

A chill ran up his back, then up around the mech's side, frost formed over his frame rapidly, fitting in with the one patch of snow and ice around him. Though the rest of the area around him seemed like earthy semi desert rather than tundra.

"Well that ain't so good..." Stringer remarked, scrambling to get off of whatever strange thing he'd landed on. It didn't take too much time or effort, considering that he wasn't too beat up compared to what could have happened.

Once he was off and on his feet though, he took notice of his surroundings, finding himself rather confused at the strange terrain changes. "That's not natural..." Turning, he decided he'd better figure out what he landed on, optics holding blatant confusion as he looked over.

What had acted as a crash mat for the mech was sprawled out in the snow patch, cousined in turn by that. The being was about two or three times his size, but also had a very slender and stream lined build, white armor reflected the light over gray like hide under.

At first, the bot just looked the being over before seeming to figure out what he'd hit. "Ooooh boy." He moved a little closer again to try and figure out if whatever he'd hit was actually okay. "Hello? Y'alright?"

A white hand twitched, and flexed to grip the snow, face down the groan was muffled into the snow. The being twitched and jerked as its body woke up before the mind.

"Uh... you even awake?" Stringer asked, leaning over a little to try and see if the strange being was actually going to get up or not.

It, or she, the form was femme like enough for a guess, twitched again in response to Stringer's voice. At least she seemed to be coming around, but considering the mech seemed to have landed on her upper shoulders it was amazing that she was moving so soon.

The bot seemed relieved that the being was moving this soon, but at the same time he wasn't sure if he should be worried or happy. "I... uh, I'm sorry I landed on you?" He said awkwardly. What else could he say? He didn't know who, or what, this was. All he seemed able to figure out was that this being was female, and even then he hoped that wasn't an inaccurate guess.

The white native didn't respond, not awake that much, but shifted enough that she could start breathing in a regular pattern. Proving not to be mecha, or fully (at the same time the leathery hide also helped with that).

"... well, at least you're alive." He remarked, seeming to be trying to keep a positive angle on things. "What are ya anyway?"

The mech had the same response, that is to say still none.

Stringer finally figured out what was going on, and moved back a bit before sitting down. "Now I'm in a pickle. Guess I oughta just wait til she wakes up or somethin'." After a moment or two, however, he shook his head and got up. "What am I sayin'? I can't just sit there doin' nothing." Walking closer, he crouched beside the – to him – strange being, trying to roll it onto her back so he could see if she had taken any damage when he landed on her, other than the obvious fact she had been knocked senseless.

The blue tinted mask was tilted up, eyes closed and now not being face down, the mech could see that the white and black being was an air breather. The chest was rising and falling in a steady rhythm, and the light in the center of the chest was pulsing in a tri-beat. It had claws on the hands, and grasping claws on the feet for gripping it looked like. But the metal armor was completely new.

"What in the worlds are you anyway?" Stringer mused quietly, more for his own benefit than that of the unconscious being's. He studied the creature carefully for a few moments, his expression one of curiosity and faint confusion as he racked his memory banks for anything he could equate to this. He didn't have much luck. "Well drat. Where's Stormer or Breez when you need 'em..." Pausing a moment to consider his options, he decided to try and wake the being up, giving her a light shake. "Hello? Wakey, wakey?"

There was a snort, and her black hands twitched, the claws scraping the packed snow. At least Stringer's inadvertent crash mate wasn't too damaged, and the armor (likely the size too) protected it.

The hero withdrew as soon as she moved, his optics glittering with curiosity and concern. "Well, let's hope that did the trick." He didn't really know what part of her he'd hit, and he was hoping it wasn't her head; he didn't want to know what sort of damage that could have caused. Then again, she seemed to be generally alright, so that was a perk.

"Mata!" The being suddenly jerked upright, at the same time a pulse of energy formed and surged out, coating everything, including the mech, in frost again.

"Whoa!" An instant shudder ran through Stringer as he scrambled back, his internal systems telling him that the sudden frost was far from something normal. Granted, he could have told anyone that without his internal workings giving him a warning, but for the moment he had more important things on his mind. "Let's not go killin' each other or anything, shall we? Weren't my idea to drop in unannounced."

Glowing eyes- not optics, turned and blinked two sets of lids at the mech, confused, but responding to his voice none the less. One red eye, one blue, and glowing from within like and optic's light. The masked face tilted to one side then the other, while the mask itself had an odd glow to it too.

The mech tilted his head slightly as he looked her over, seeming confused, but definitely happy that she was actually up and responding. "No idea if you even know what I'm sayin', but glad to see you're at least functioning... I think. Not too badly hurt?"

"No, just heat, cooling now." The being said, not exactly clearly and with a whole new accent, but was speaking the basic Stringer knew, if somewhat odd in the grammar.

He seemed a little confused by her wording, but gave a small nod of sorts, paused, and chuckled faintly. "No offense, but next time you decide to cool off, would you mind not doing the same for me too?" He indicated the frost that was clinging to his armor. "It was a surprise I wasn't really ready for."

"Not cooling, was...re...ref..." She paused, her mask brightening a bit then, "Reflex. Who are you?" The bigger being asked, poking Stringer's nearer hand. Sitting up show she wasn't all that much bigger, maybe close to twice.

He nodded a little before smiling almost cheerfully. "Jimi Stringer, ma'am, but most everyone back home calls me Stringer. Sorry about landing on you earlier; seriously wasn't intentional."

"Sounds humino...not you are not." She said softly, then added while looking up as if trying to spot what Stringer fell from. Thinking maybe an airship, "Toa Tala."

"Humi-what?" Stringer asked, seeming a little confused, but shrugged it off. "Eh, no matter. Nice to meet you... ehm, you wouldn't happen to know where I am, would you?"

Toa Tala looked around, then back at the mech and seemed to smile, "Middle of no-where?"

He laughed quietly at her response, seeming fairly amused by it. "I think that part may have been a given. But hey, at least that confirms it for sure, right?" He paused a moment further before grimacing faintly and adding. "You... didn't happen to see an exploding ship anywhere, did you? I fell out of mine and lost track of where everyone I was with ended up."

The bio-mechanical being shrugged, the blade guards on her shoulders lifting and falling in time. Then Tala started to move to stand up, wincing before putting hands on her lower back and stretching, "Ah, spine...work...there." She sighed once several pops happened and forming an ice pack over the worse part.

The hero cringed as he watched. "... sorry." He said sheepishly as he picked himself up and stretched before scraping some of the frost off his chest plate. "That's the worst of it... right?"

"I will heal, can see Turaga or water healer." Tala said, making sure the spot was solid and the ice would hold. Not admitting the full injury just in case, as she didn't know this Stringer person. "Where are you from, you... you're not Bionicle."

He nodded again in response to her answer, though he still seemed unsure, and perhaps a bit guilty, about the situation. "I'm from a planet a loooong ways away from here." He responded simply, shrugging and seeming almost relieved for the change of conversation topic. Got word from my senior chief that there was a distress signal sent out somewhere on this planet, so my team and I headed out... but for some strange reason our ship broke apart, and I... well, I happened to drop in for an unexpected visit."

"Off worlder," Tala blinked, surprised by that but not shocked. Then glanced up again, "Sounds like you ran into the energy field around the magna- the planet. Its so high we haven't even considered going to the moons again."

"Energy field?" Stringer asked, seeming rather intrigued by this. "Your planet has a natural force field?"

"Not exactly, the planet made it when it was re-formed." Tala knelt down and then sat on her knees, drawing a rough image in the semi melting snow of what her home used to look like, "Bara Magna survived the shattering, and not long was put back together."

This seemed to confuse him a bit more. "The shattering?" He inquired. "That sounds rather dangerous. Was that some sort of massive earthquake?"

The Toa held her hands in a circle, then 'cracked' it into parts, "The planet broke to three parts, so there was four moons orbiting a crippled planet."

Stringer looked rather surprised. "It... just broke apart? How did it get put back together again?"

"Mata Nui did it, but that is a very long story that may not be for here." Tala said looking around at the melting pocket of snow and the semi desert around them. "Maybe we should go to Po-Koro."

"Long story, eh? Well, I'm fine to hear it later." He cracked a small grin of sorts. "Gives me more time to wonder and get my eagerness to listen to the story hyped up." He then blinked. "Po-Koro? ... I take it that's a city, or something similar?"

"Yes, its..." Tala paused, then shook her head, "I can't link the word until I hear you talk some more. Not a city, a smaller."

"Town? Village?" Stringer tried, thinking on it a bit. "Settlement? Are any of those linkin' up? Or still no dice?" He sounded like he genuinely wanted to help her find the right word to piece things together.

"Village, town," Tala said, moving slowly to get back up, and pointed, "Po-Koro is that way. I was going there anyway."

The mech nodded as he glanced in the direction she pointed. "Sounds like a plan. It'd probably be safer if I tagged along anyway... for my sake, I mean. Being the rookie's never easy."

"Rookie?" The Toa echoed looking down at the mech and tilted her head. "What is that?"

"Ehm... new to the job. In training." He clarified. "Does that help?"

"You are an apprentice sent to a new magna?" Tala asked in some surprise, the impression she was getting from her mask said this mech was older and experienced.

Stringer paused before quickly shaking his head. "No no no, I was meaning I was new to the area. Sorry for the confusion. I'm actually a veteran compared to some of the bots on my team."

"Your spoken grammar is...odd, even to me, and I have the Rue." Tala seemed to have that 'this is madness' look at the same time enjoying something.

Not wholly unlike Ferno after being given a Challenge. Although you likely didn't see the young hero for a few days until someone dragged the stasis locked red frame out of whatever training room it was hiding in.

Stringer couldn't help but quirk a small grin at her expression. "Yeah, I goofed my words up on that one. But hey, we got it settled out, yeah? That's what matters."

"Is all...is your whole language complex?" The Toa asked in an amused tone as they walked.

The more she talked and listened, that thick accent was slipping away, and she was improving her standard as fast as if getting an active transfer. Or unfolding program. But that couldn't be, she was still organic, right?

Needless to say, the mech was rather impressed with how fast she was catching onto it. "Yeah, sometimes. I didn't have to try studying to learn it though; got it downloaded in the day I was built." He paused to look curiously up at her face. "Which is makin' me wonder; how're you catching on so fast?"

"Cheatin'," this time, at least in that one word Tala had managed to completely mimic Stringer's own accent, and almost got the slight metallic edge. "I'm using my kanohi rue, mask of translation. I'm...learning from you, you learned fast, so I will the more you talk or think-talk." The Toa pointed to her mask, then motioned to the black mech.

Stringer blinked before laughing a little. "Ah... wait... what do you mean by 'think-talk'?"

"Can't hear, mask does...its... Thinking, talking to the self?" She shrugged, slowing her stride as much to keep pace but also to reform her ice pack that was on her back.

That only seemed to confuse him a bit more. "Your mask talks to itself? That sounds sort of like something I'd hear comin' from a villain the Hero Factory would track down. We've caught all sorts o' crazies."

"Mask listens, not alive, not a living kanohi." Tala paused, stopping to think and mentally juggle words around. "It is just mask, mine, but translates, so it listens. To spoken words and surface thoughts of those around to help translate. Like a relay."

"... That might have to be one of the things I figure out later." Stringer confessed awkwardly. "It's not makin' much sense to me at the moment. I can probably noodle it through after a bit though. The gist of it either way though, is that it's like a translation device, right?"

"Not like, is." Tala smiled down at him, or a smile in her own way.

"Well that makes it easier to figure out." He remarked, smiling back at her in amusement. "I understand the simple things, and leave the deeper thinking for Stormer. He's the one who usually's got a master plan sorted out."

"Master plan of trying to land on a high energy field planet without scanning?" Tala arched up an eye ridge, the nipping tease there to see the reaction of the mech, still trying to get a good feeling of him.

"That wasn't really his fault." Stringer responded with a sheepish laugh of sorts. "We only found out after we left that the ship model didn't have a proper scanning system, and Zib said we didn't have time to get a better ship. Stormer wasn't really happy about that little plan; said only trouble could come of it."

He paused to consider the situation, his expression turning to a grim frown. "It makes me wonder if he even made it through the crash. The cockpit blasted off before the rest of the ship fell to pieces, and he was in the cockpit..."

"Could always fallow that," the white and black Toa said mildly, looking at something over several larger rocks coming up to them, and making use of her height. "If that's not a debris trail, I'll kiss Malum." Her eyes tracked it and noted something, it was 'aimed' between two Koros almost perfectly

"No idea who Malum is, but if you're wrong I'll bet he'd be giddy." The mech remarked, moving further ahead and climbing up onto the rocks so he could get a look. He gave a low whistle after. "Yeah, that looks like what might have been the ship... hard to tell, but I think I recognize a few parts of the exterior... maybe? Can't really tell from back here."

"Po-Koro is that way," Tala pointed along the trail, "Walking we can be there after dark, at second moon rise."

Normally, she would keep up her long distance run, but not with her back hurting as it was.

"Sounds like a good plan to check there then." Stringer pointed out, thinking it over a little. "If anyone landed here, they very well could've ended up there. At least, one can hope they did."

"And if not there are drum messages and a quick teleport to Ga-Koro," Toa Tala said, pausing to look up at a flash of green in the sky.

"What?" He asked with confusion, seeming a bit confused. "Drum messages? Is that something like morse code?"

"Long distance message delivery when there's no Gacko riders or a fully working teleportation system." Tala chucked, and then made a motion to stop again. "Sorry for this," the Bionicle took a deep breath and roared out to the sky and the form flying up there.

Stringer nodded and stopped, tilting his head slightly, seeming curious. However, he soon looked up, his expression taking on confusion. Shaking himself to get the vibrations out of his system thanks to Tala's sudden outcry, he asked. "What'd you just do? And what's that up there?"

"One of my brothers, elder brother but he's here in this region for the same reason I am." Tala said, not at all sorry for the Hordika throwback roar, waving an arm at the being that was turning to head to them.

The black mech seemed intrigued by this. "Mind my askin' what you were in this region for?"

"We're looking for someone who's missing." Tala explained, one hand on her back over the ice patch, "Someone important, she's what's called a Makuta, one of the last three of their kind left. Ronoku is very loyal to Mata Nui, our Great Spirit, so she wouldn't leave the capital without...about two days vocal deliberation and then be ordered out by Mata Nui." The white being seemed worried about the missing Makuta very much.

"And a Makuta is...?" Stringer inquired, his expression showing his confusion very well.

Tala considered, "Makuta help to make the Rahi, ah, the animals...? That fill our world." She tried to explain, "Ronoku and her mate are very important."

"So they're... builders, in a way." He responded, thinking it over a bit. "I think that makes sense. Sense enough to me anyway."

The wind increased before sweeping past them as the large but lean form of the male Toa of air landed. Despite being a good two or three heads taller than Tala, he barely made a tremor from his weight, just a vibration. Two very impressive and long swords were flipped from wrists to his back.

"Highgood greetings Ko-Gi, any news- oh, another one," Orange and gold eyes blinked down at Stringer and he crouched down.

The black mech's already captured interest hit a peak. "Another one?" He asked, no hiding the eager hope in his voice. "You saw someone else like me? What color were they? Were they alright? They weren't offline were they? My com-link hasn't wanted to turn on since the crash."

"I did not see him openeyed, but the strangewierd being was white before the Matoran of Ga-Koro fixed him." The male native said, his voice as light as someone his size could be, and had a rhythmic, song like quality to it. "Last this Toahero heard, Po-tu Hewkii was bringing him to Po-Koro."

Stringer couldn't help himself as he started to grin. "That's Stormer! That's my team leader!" There was no hiding his excitement on that one. "How far are we from where he was taken to?"

"By air, a good tak...um, ah..tak.." Tala paused, she seemed confused, then frowned as she considered.

"Tak?" The other Toa offered.

"It's not translating Lewa," the ice elemental said, then looked at tye Hero, "Basically my brother can fly faster there then we can run, but Po-Koro is closer."

"The beats of the desert Kini-Koro say they have found something," Lewa added, "Pohatu has sent out a call to all Toaheroes."

Stringer seemed even further interested, and amused, laughing quietly at Lewa's lack of translation ability. "Is there any hint of what your companion... friend... brother? ... Pohatu, found?"

"It was just a quickcall," Lewa shrugged, looking at his sister of ice and noting the odd look, "Did you not sensefeel?"

"When did it happen?" Tala blinked.

"Not long," Lewa gave a time, or what must have been.

"Er..." Tala glanced at Stringer, arching an eye ridge, "I was occupied with getting back to consciousness at that time."

The black mech fidgeted sheepishly at that. "Ehm... heheh... someone... someone decided to drop in and say hello when that happened, probably. N-no lasting harm was done though... right?" He glanced curiously at Tala as he said this.

Lewa looked between them, blinked both sets of lids, "you fell on Tala?" He asked, well able to pick that up. Then swiftly moved over to the white techno-organic, "Ko-Gi!"

"I'm okay," Tala smiled, "Just need some time with Matoran healer."

Lewa shook his head, green-white energy forming on his hands as he checked the female's back, "No Tala, this needs to be set now. Our new strangewierd friend maybe Matoran sized, but he's also all metal. Heavy, and you do not have malethick armor... Oh," Lewa winced at what his healing energy found.

Stringer watched curiously, his expression turning to worry and alarm. "What is it? ... I hurt her real bad, didn't I?"

"You must have fallen hardfar friend," Lewa said as he pestered Tala until she gave in and laid down for him on her front. He broke the ice and inspected the damaged spot. "Mata Nui sister, you don't want a brokenhunch like Pohatu!" He shook his head, glanced at Stringer, "Nothing that can't be fixed in an eight day, as long as Tala isn't icestubborn..."

The mech grimaced a bit as he thought about it. "Yeah... the ship was pretty high up when it broke open. I'd probably be in a lot worse shape if I hadn't landed on her, but... sheesh, didn't mean to hurt her that bad... didn't mean to hurt her at all, really."

"It's not the first time I broke my back," Tala shrugged and then braced herself, "Okay."

Lewa rose up and shifted most all his weight on one spot, there was an odd sound before there was another burst of frost. Then he as using elemental energy to heal as much as he could alone.

"...ow..." Some whines were universal.

"I-I broke your back?!" Stringer spluttered with alarm. "Good heavens, I knew I was heavy, but I didn't know I was quite that... that destructive... I am so sorry, Tala; it weren't anything I'd have wanted..."

The white Toa said something into the sand and frost, waving a hand and flopping for a moment. Then she stirred to sit up, her mask glowing once more as the Toa spat out a rock. "It wasn't as bad as last time-don't ever get punched in the back by a earth toa- Toa are built to withstand more damage."

"Icestubborn." Lewa snorted, pulling Tala around and then all but put her on his back to carry, "To Po-Koro new friend? If your leader is going there, would be best to meet there, yes?"

Stringer eyed Tala with concern before nodding as he looked back to Lewa. "I'd appreciate that, yes. I very much want to see if he's alright."

"Needed a Matoran fix, and," the green mask smiled, "Likely is water proof. Needs to survive the wetick if he is traveling with a Toa Marhi, Hewkii quicktravels best in the wet."

"Wet? ... as in, swimming?" He asked curiously. "Huh... wonder how Stormer handled that one... eh... what color would he be now, if they replaced his amour?"

"Ga-Matoran style," Tala chuckled herself from her spot, having formed another ice pack, looking at the mech, "He's likely blue, or partly. We're...a bit color coordinated of a people, the Bionicle."

"Ah..." Stringer paused before starting to laugh. "If he's mostly blue I'll probably be calling him Surge for days. Surge was always the one who wore blue in our team."

"Oh?" Tala smiled, encouraging the mech to keep talking. The more she heard the more her kanohi mask could translate and at a faster pace.

The black mech nodded, still chuckling quietly. "Yep. Surge is one of our rookies, and he's about as jumpy as they come, I reckon. Wears a brilliant shade of blue too." He paused before glancing curiously at Lewa. "... Huh... and Breez wears your colors, actually." He then continued talking. "Bulk doesn't really have paint, he just keeps his armor shiny, so he's a silver grey, and then there's Stormer. White as snow, that one. Then there's Furno; red as a red can get."

"Is this Storm icestubborn too?" Lewa asked, not minding as the back of his head was smacked.

"Did all of those come here?" Tala asked.

Stringer smiled at Lewa as he nodded. "Stormer is rather stubborn, yeah. It's a good thing too; saved his neck a couple times during missions. saved his own team leader when he himself was a rookie, even. If anyone in my troop is worthy of being Alpha Leader, it'd be Stormer."

He then turned to look up at Tala, and nodded again. "Yeah, all six of us came along. Lost track of everyone when the ship blew up though, so it's good to hear that Stormer toughed out the blast. He was the first one to get separated; he was in the cockpit when the ship exploded."

"There's something about that that's bothering me," Tala said, looking at Lewa then the sky, "The planetary field should just make ships short out and maybe crash, or drift in orbit, not blow things up."

Stringer seemed a bit concerned at this. "Think someone was deliberately trying to kill us? Or was something else going on?"

"Toaheroes and Glatorans have been keeping an ever watchful gaze on our people, and an ear to the ground," Lewa frowned, "Matoran ones now, and would never be hostile to even offworlders, warn away to save but not hurt." He shrugged under Tala, "This Toa is not sure. But Rokanu is missing," Tala pointed out, not liking the idea of the missing Makuta being involved.

"Think maybe whoever Rokanu is, had a hand in it?" The mech asked, sounding a little concerned. "It's not really a good sign when someone goes missing and then bad stuff happens."

"This shadowmother would never go out on her own like this, not without the Makutasons,". Lewa shook his head, just as worried as Tala, the las thing they needed was to have to go up against a Makuta again. More so one that has fought and bled beside Toa.

"Think someone tried taking her?" Stringer ventured curiously, seeming to dislike the situation more and more as the conversation progressed.

"Possible, but no one can figure out how..." Tala sighed and closed her inner lids, "Mata Nui... If someone had control of any Makuta..."

"It would be the Rahi Sieges all over," Lewa snorted, but didn't want to mention the fear of kanohi infections.

Or think about that.

"Rahi sieges?" Stringer asked, seeming rather confused about that one. "Not quite sure I follow."

"The island we came from, originally, was under attack by a Makuta, who kept making bigger and meaner Rahi beasts to attack the Koros." Tala explained, "at the time Matoran had to defend themselves, this was before Lewa and his team came. Matoran were lost, to coma or taken."

"We were the Toa Mata then, called from a longdeep sleeprest." Lewa put in, "Had to fight all kinds if rahibeasts. Not so Goodright fun."

The mech considered this for a little while before shaking his head a bit. "Yeah, that does sound pretty rough. Not exactly a fun first day on the job sort of situation. Everything got settled without too much harm done though, right?"

"...er, took a good century until we got to this point," Tala admitted, "It was a long war that spanned all the inner worlds and Bara magna."

Stringer seemed surprised by this. "Well... that sounds... pretty rough. Can't think of any villains we've gone up against who were quite so bad as to last that long evading capture."

"Like I said before, its a bit of a long story." Tala gave something like a sheepish look to the mech as Lewa walked. "I'm no chronicler, but maybe we can give you and over view...?"

The black mech nodded as he thought it through. "Probably a good idea. At least then I'd know a bit o' what I might be dealing with, yeah?"

"Goodsmart thinking friend." Lewa nodded, then grinned before launching into a story.

Tree-speck style.


	13. Reunion

By the time the trio actually reached Po-Koro, Stringer not only seemed to know the entire 'treespeak dictionary', but had also needed to ask several times for Lewa to repeat certain points of the story a bit more slowly so he could actually process what was being said. In fact, Stringer's computing systems were starting to overheat a little with the work, and once the tale was over, he said, sounding a little dazed. "Wow... that's quite the tale... sounds like an exhausting thing to go through as well."

Tala was trying her best to help the story, and more than once held Lewa's mouth folded while clarifying points or explaining where names and titles got mixed up.

"You have no idea, and trying to coordinate dozens of Toa teams without being picked up..." Tala rolled her eyes.

The black-clad hero nodded a little, shaking his head after as though hoping it'd sort some of the data out a little more quickly. It wasn't hard to tell his processors were still whirring, trying to keep up with the info still. After a moment though, he looked around with curiosity. "So... this is the place, eh?"

"Po-Koro," Tala nodded, "and there is Pohatu," she added seeing the stone giant trotting out to meet them.

"Brother, sister!" The tan colored Toa said, bee-lining to help the ice Toa down, not seeing Stringer right away, "You got my call, I think something has happen to the Makuta," he said in a low voice, supporting Tala. "I think I found a horde in...And hello there Matoran!"

Stringer just stared up at him a few seconds before grinning and waving. "Well hello up there, stranger. I take it you're this Pohatu feller I heard about?"

"...?" Pohatu chirped in curiosity at Stinger.

"Oh, sorry," Tala tilted her head a little, the now faint glow of her mask brightened and she added, "This is Stringer, met him in the desert, he's looking for-"

"Bulk?" Pohatu asked, perking up.

The mech's face seemed to light up with hope. "Bulk's here? Oh thank goodness! One more of my team that survived. I was brighthappy enough when I heard Stormer might be here, but Bulk being here? That is a relief like no other."

... Was that really treespeak he just used? He certainly didn't seem aware of it. Perhaps it was a one-off from travelling with Lewa for so long.

"He's in the village, being a bed but doesn't seem to mind." Pohatu said, outing the treespeak up to Lewa and the Rua.

"Ko-gi needs to go to the wiseold Turaga and healers," Lewa said firmly, motioning Stringer to come.

"It's on the way," the stone Toa said, wondering if they found what he did.

Stringer gave a quick nod, moving to follow Lewa as he remarked. "So ol' Duncan's a bed now, eh? How'd he swing that one? I never took him to be the type that would settle down that much."

"It seems it's universal for heroes to relax when there's a youngling in your lap." Pohatu chuckled.

"Takiu?" Tala asked remembering what her brother said a few times when the Toa got together. "Turning out to be like Takua after all?"

"Yep, he's the one that found Bulk."

The black mech considered this for a little while, expression showing amusement after he figured it out. "Bulk always was the one to enjoy the little ones more than the rest of Alpha Team." He remarked, chuckling quietly as he spoke. "It's nice to hear he's found one... or perhaps, was found by one in this case, that's so fond of him."

"Takiu is pretty insistent that your friend is a small Toa, more so now." The tan giant looked almost smug about something. Then Pohatu got to work, recruiting the first Matoran to go get Turaga Bomonga, then he and Lewa helped Tala down in front of a structure. Even as the smallest of the three, she wouldn't fit inside.

That didn't bother the group of blue and tan Matoran that came with their elder. Tala had to stop using her mask, but it seemed like Stringer got something of a language pack, for he could understand some of what was said as the invert was explained and then orders to organize what to do. Pohatu paused long enough to come and kneel down beside the mech.

"Here," he offered a round 'medallion,' "take this, it will help, and your friend is that way, between those two huts and the second cooking pit. Last I saw he was telling stories in trade for the new armor."

"New armor?" Stringer inquired, accepting the medallion. "I heard Stormer got new armor, but did Bulk as well?" He seemed definitely curious about this. "Oh, and thanks." He paused to look quizzically at the shiny object in his hand. "Ehr... what is this anyway?"

"Translation stone." Pohatu shrugged, "And yes, heh. Matoran don't like stress marks at all, it's a bit of an engrained habit to fix whenever it's spotted."

Instinctively, the mech gave himself a look over as though searching for damage of his own. He couldn't really see any right off, though he had a guess he'd probably taken some. After all, if he hit Tala hard enough to break her back, he probably had dealt a bit of damage to himself too.

After a moment though, he looked back up at Pohatu. "Ah, that'll definitely come in handy." He considered a moment longer before chuckling. "What color did Bulk end up? Or is he still his usual, greyish silver?"

"With some Po-Matoran flair," the stone elemental twitched the double claws on one his forearm. He looked back as Tala yelped, then went limp, Lewa flipping something back into subspace and looked a little too innocent where he was beside the white form.

Stringer jumped slightly and looked back at Lewa, eyeing his expression with the faintest unease, and a lot of curiosity, before looking up at Pohatu. "... Do I want to know what he just did to her?" He asked awkwardly, hesitating only a moment before adding. "And what do you mean by 'Po-Matoran flair'?"

"He just knocked her out to fix the spinal plates," Pohatu assured as he rolled a shoulder to indicate his own hunch, "She can be fixed in time to keep from having a hunch like me. As for the flair, you'll see."

"What happened to cause your hunch to be that way?" Stringer asked curiously, not quite seeming to realize this might seem rude, and his tone implying he hadn't intended to seem that way in the slightest. "And... alright." He paused before adding with a grin. "As long as it's not flaming pink or anything. Bulk might protest to that one."

"I've broken my back, a few times," the Toa shifted and shrugged, "hazard of being a Toa as long as the Nuva have been, and big nasty Rahi that like to toss you in the most remote places."

"I take it the Rahi are just as big as the heroes around here?" The black bot inquired, raising an optic ridge and seeming a little intrigued. "Because I've seen some big critters in my time, and I'm guessing that if they're big enough to send you skyflying, they've got to be huge."

"Oh yes," Pohatu rimmed a set of scars on his right leg, hard to see if you didn't know what to look for. "Go see your friend, he will be happy to see someone, and we can't do much in the dark tonight."

Giving another small nod, Stringer cracked a small grin again. "Sounds like a plan. Thanks for telling me where he is." With that, he gave a goofy, clearly playful salute, and then took off to track down Bulk, keeping a sharp eye out for anyone with a familiar face. "Alright now... time to track down the 'big guy'..." He mumbled cheerfully to himself. It'd already felt like ages since he'd seen his fellow veteran bot, and the thought of finding him so soon after the crash was enough to put a grin on his face that, were he to show it fully, could likely be called a 'brighthappy giddysmile' were he a Le-Matoran. At least, that's what he figured.

The village, looking a bit more like a small town but still with a rustic charm. The houses were domed shaped, some with open windows, some without and only a door opening covered with a hide flap. The domes were made of sandstone, leaving them with a swirl of colors, a few with polish in patterns for added decorations.

As Stringer walked, he passed an open space with several of the biomechanical natives sitting around a fire that was in a shallow pit. They treated the mech, friendly but there was a tired edge to this group. One pointed to a second group like his, encouraging the mech to go there. They had seen Stringer come into the Koro with the Toa, so he must be safe.

Stringer noticed the tiredness, seeming a bit concerned, but deciding not to question it, and instead smiled brightly and thanked the Matoran before turning and hurrying towards the second group. "Wonder if Bulk's over there..."

Although, it was dark and these native beings were half organic. And most organics recharged, er, slept in nights.

The village was pretty quiet too.

Then the second fire-pit location was in front of the mech, and a gathering of a little more of the Matoran. It wasn't many and mostly the adults as they listen to a familiar voice as another mech that was telling a story.

"... We all thought we were gonners on that one." The voice was saying. "But Furno showed up just in time. Good timing too, I-"

Stringer couldn't help himself, grinning as he drew closer and piped in. "Nearly died, he did. He's darn lucky we got backup that quickly."

Bulk jumped, optics widening as he turned to look. A broad grin soon was there for all to see, relief etched in his face plates as he said jovially. "Stringer! When did you get here? You're a right mess, you are."

Stringer merely grinned as he drew closer, bumping fists with his comrade before settling a little ways behind him so he wasn't pushing anyone out of their seats.

The small form that was curled up in Bulk's lap stirred but was still sound asleep, Takiu having followed the mecha hero around since he started mixing with the Koro.

Hafu leaned over to get a look at Stringer, "Well, hello there."

The black mech chuckled in amusement, lightly poking Bulk's shoulder and remarking. "Two things; loving the new paint job, and I'm amused you took up 'babysitting' as a hobby." This last statement was clearly just a playful joke, with no harm meant by it. Bulk grinned again, giving Stringer a small shove with his elbow, though he was careful not to jostle Takiu in the process.

Satisfied with this, Stringer then turned his gaze to Hafu, smiling cheerfully. "Hullo there. Bulk hasn't been boring anyone, has he?"

"Not at all, we love stores," Hafu said as he looked to the young Matoran, "And more like he has a tiny stalker."

"At least Takiu is of the harmless kind," A black masked Matoran said, smiling at his charge.

The dark mech chuckled quietly. "Oh good. Glad to hear you like stories, because Bulk's got his fair share." He then glanced back to his teammate. "Telling that one about Corroder? The most recent one, I mean?"

Bulk nodded, seeming amused. "That'd be the one." He then glanced towards the black-masked Matoran, chuckling in further amusement. "Takiu's not a stalker. Excitable and young, but not a stalker."

"I know my charge," The Matoran grinned, "Just give him a day and you'll see."

Bulk chuckled quietly. "Well, alright. I guess we'll just have to see how it goes then. So far I'm rather fond of him."

"Bulk, you'd be brighthappy about anyone that smiled at you." Stringer pointed out, yet again missing his brief usage of treespeak, and somehow missing Bulk's optic ridge rising quizzically, though the now silver and gold mech didn't comment on it.

Hafu laughed softly, seeming to be the only Matoran to catch it, as they were all used to the tree-speak and translating it mentally.

Bulk eventually spoke again, seeming amused. "So, Stringer, do I want to know what neck of the woods you tumbled out of?"

"Well, it's a bit of a weird story, really." Stringer confessed. "But hey, what matters is we survived, right? Any word on Stormer or any of the others?"

The silver and gold mech shook his head. "Not really. Found a piece of Breez's armor, but that's it." He sighed in the thought. "But you're right; what matters is we survived. If we did, it's likely the others did too." He then glanced at the Matoran around them, as though suggesting they could speak up if they wanted to say something.

"Likely," Hafu nodded, "The drums have already sent out an alert and message. It will be a while to reach all the Koros around."

Stringer nodded as he looked to Hafu now. "Aye, that's what... Lewa? ... Yeah, Lewa, said. Said something about Stormer being on his way here right now."

"That leader?" The carver asked, turning to Bulk for confirmation of the mech's team.

The larger bot nodded. "He is. I reckon he's the oldest on the team too. Never did figure out who was built first between him and I."

"Age is a tricky thing with the Bionicle too," Hafu chuckled, glancing at the new comer. "And if you like his look by the way, wait until you can see what Bulk is starting to do thanks to Toa Pohatu."

"Work out?" Stringer asked jokingly, earning him another nudge from his comrade. Both laughing quietly, the black mech spoke after a moment. "What can he do now anyway?"

"No bio-quakes, but moving stones," the Po-Matoran smiled, glancing at the Matoran child as Takiu's father rose to collect his charge.

"I think it might be time for little Matoran to go to their cubbies and get some good sleep," the black masked Matoran said, and wasn't the only caretaker to be gathering up a little one that couldn't stay awake in the story time.

Stringer blinked. "The slowthinker in me wants to ask if he's just picking them up and moving them." He remarked. "But the smarter side of my programing wants to ask how he's doing it other than the obvious way everyone else would."

As for Bulk, he smiled a bit as he gave the sleeping child in his arms a little hug before gently and carefully offering him back to his parent.

Pohatu seemed highly amused by something as he extended a pulse of elemental energy to cause a visible ripple through the ground and stir up a few larger rocks that hand been buried.

Stringer quite obviously wasn't expecting that sort of thing to happen, because he stared, optics widening a bit, at the rocks that had moved up. "... Now how'd you pull that off?" He asked in surprise.

Bulk merely chuckled, definitely seeming amused.

"Its elemental energy, Toa can control it." Pohatu explained, scooping up a handful of pebbles and stirring them into levitation it seemed in the air. "Bulk hear can't do what I can- well, to be fair not even normal Toa can to the same extent."

The black-armored hero seemed curious about this. "I take it you're a special brand o' Toa?" He asked, not really pausing to think that his wording might be an unusual one for the Toa.

"I'm a Toa Nuva," Pohatu chuckled, letting the pebbles drop and then tossed a smooth stone at Bulk.

Bulk caught the stone and turned it lazily in his hand while Stringer mulled over Pohatu's answer. "And I'm going to guess that a Toa Nuva's a bit betterstronger than the usual Toa, right?"

Bulk glanced at Stringer now, an optic ridge rising slightly, though he decided not to comment. Perhaps Stringer just needed a recharge.

"Strongest Toa, we're...supercharged to twice the normal you could say." Pohatu said, and then rumbled in amusement, "It sounds like you picked up a lot from Lewa little brother."

The black mech nodded as he mulled it over a bit. "So... kind of like getting an upgrade then... I can understand that aspect." He then seemed a little confused. "Picked something up? What do you mean?"

"You treespeak rightfine." Pohatu chirped in deft mimicry of Lewa's accent and pattern, though his own voice too deep.

"... Treespeak?" Stringer asked. "...oh! That's what the funky way of talking is called." He grinned, paused, and then seemed surprised. "I did that?"

"Enough to notice but not all the time," Pohatu rumbled a reassuring purr.

"... Huh... well that's good to know." The black mech paused again to think about it, and then grinned. "Bet it'll throw the others for a loop when we find 'em."

Bulk chuckled quietly. "I think it would throw anyone for a loop." He remarked.

Pohatu shifted and looked up to find Lewa, "Hmm, I should go check on Tala. You're just as welcome to roam the village Stringer; I just ask you be quiet for those resting now."

"I can appreciate people needing sleep." Stringer commented, giving a small nod. "I could do with a bit of recharge myself, probably. I'll keep quiet and let peace hold out." He paused, thinking a bit before adding. "Mind if I go with you?"

"If you want, though we Toa aren't..." Pohatu had to stop and think about his wording, "...the most graceful with being healed..." Thus why Tala would likely be in the great temple by now.

"And you think gettin' repaired is a gracepretty picture?" Stringer asked, seeming curious as well as amused. "I'm not too fussed 'bout anything pretty or not pretty. What's gotta be done's just gotta be done."

Bulk couldn't help but chuckle faintly as his teammate's words, both the content and how he said them.

"Well," Pohatu shrugged and motioned to the temple as he headed to it, inviting the two Heroes to come with if they wanted. He smirked, knowing they were about to learn Bionicle cursing in several dialects.

The pair of mechs both got up and followed, the darker colored one seeming a little confused. "Well what?" He asked curiously, inclining his head to the side just enough to help portray that he didn't get what Pohatu was so amused by.

Bulk, on the other hand, seemed to have a good guess of it, and grinned, though he decided to just let Stringer figure it out for himself.

"You'll see," Pohatu sighed as he noted the Matoran were avoiding the temple. Passing into it, he shifted at the abrupt change from heat to near freezing cold, enough to see one's breath and see frost creeping on armor.

The Toa just followed the yelling.

Stringer hit the temperature alterations like a brick wall, actually stumbling back a little and staring in surprise before shaking his head and hurrying after Pohatu, Bulk not far behind and giving a small shudder at the change of heat. He also made a mental note to tug Stringer out of the temple if they started to get too cold; they hadn't been upgraded for icy weather lately, and he wasn't sure how frosty this was going to get.

"Kharzani!" A voice yelled, as Pohatu used his strength to open a door.

"Hold still Ko-Gi!" Lewa ordered.

"It's not exactly easy to do-" Tala gave a sound that was part roar, part animal yowl as the bigger form of Lewa suddenly lifted up and pushed his weight down on the white Toa, there were audible cracking and popping sounds, as well as others as reinforced vertebra, armor plates and muscles cables before forced back into place. Ice crystals coated everything, "Kharzani bloody Makuta bones ripped-" She continued on for a good solid four minutes.

Stringer saw this and flinched so badly he nearly stumbled backwards, though that didn't hit him near as hard as the knowledge that he was the one who did it to her in the first place. By the time Tala's long-winded stream of profanities was over, the black mech looked almost ready to just collapse, guilt plain-as-day obvious on his face. Even if he would've had his visor down, there would be no missing it.

Bulk glanced at his teammate and grimaced at what he saw. "I'm going to guess you saw what happened to her?" He asked quietly.

Stringer moaned faintly. "Didn't see... I WAS what happened to her..."

Bulk blinked once. "... Oh..."

Tala had transferred from words to more primal Hordika sounds, flexing her claws on her hands through the frost and ice on the berth like slab of metal-stone she was on. There was six of these slabs, all scaled for Toa it seems, a semi hidden medical and repair room for the native guardians.

Lewa was using both his own healing element, as well as the tools and machines that looked almost out of place, being far more advanced than the hand-carved stone homes of the village. The air spirit looked over at them and smiled, rolled glowing eyes at Tala's snarling and growling at the berth top.

Bulk offered Lewa an awkward, somewhat grim smile. Stringer merely shrunk back out of view. He couldn't bear the thought of even looking at Tala in that state. His programming demanded he do what he could to help people, and landing on Tala had made him do the exact opposite. It wasn't a comforting feeling to say the least. If anything it made him sick, or at least as close to it as he could get.

The silver and gold mech grimaced as he glanced back at his friend, though he had no words to even offer. Pointing out that it was an accident wouldn't help; he knew Stringer was aware of that already. Shaking his head a little, plainly at a loss, Bulk looked back into the room and asked awkwardly. "Ehm... How's she doing?"

"Just fine." Lewa laughed, grinning cheerfully as he smacked the white back between the shoulder blades, and was promptly told off in chirps, buzzing and whistles. "Ko-gi here is not nearly as loud as her elder."

"Or Tahu." Pohatu added, using his height to see the ice Toa's back, then stooped to put a hand behind Stringer and push him forwards. "We Toa are not graceful healers little Brother." He tilted his head to the side as Tala started demanding numb-weeds now.

Stringer blinked, immediately trying to hit the brakes and ending up falling flat on his face. Bulk just eyed him. "I doubt she'll be mad at you, Stringer. It's not like you meant to land on her." He then looked up at Lewa, smiling a little. "Glad to hear it."

The Toa blinked at the mecha, confused, "Does he need help?" Pohatu asked.

Bulk shook his head, chuckling faintly and seeming a little sheepish. "His programming's clashing with what happened and freaking him out a bit. Apparently he's the reason Tala's back got broke, but his programming says to protect and keep safe at all costs, so landing on her didn't exactly go well with it now that he knows how much it hurt."

Stringer was picking himself up at the moment, shaking his head a little as if to rattle loose parts back into place, though he stayed quiet, trying not to be that noticeable. It probably wasn't working well.

Lewa tilted his head and put a molding pack of semi-liquid on the female Toa's lower back. It had an additive to keep the medicine from freezing and soak into hide and armor. He purred and scritched Tala in a spot he knew she liked on her shoulders. "Better sister?"

"Mmm..." Tala muttered into the frost and snow, slowing relaxing as the pain was numbed and started to re-absorb the ko-energy.

Bulk shrugged little, seeming to think he lost Lewa somewhere in the explanation. "Basically, he's glitching. He'll be fine soon enough." He then set about watching - as best he could - while Tala relaxed, seeming rather curious about how things were being done. This certainly wasn't how they did things at the factory, he knew that for certain.

Tala looked up, the inner lids closed as she tried to see who was here now that she could focus outside of self-healing.

Bulk gave Tala a cheerful wave and a small grin. Stringer briefly glanced up before glancing away, fumbling with his fingers awkwardly while he tried to sort out the clash between program and what actually happened.

The ice Toa sighed and slowly started to actually move again and flexing limbs to be sure it was all working.

The silver and gold colored Hero watched as Tala did this, seeming a bit concerned, but also happy that she appeared to so far be alright.

"Stop freaking out," Tala said, voice still having a growling edge but calmer now, and speaking not Matoran but what the Heroes knew.

"I'm not the one who's freaking out." Bulk remarked, glancing at Stringer and poking him.

The black hero sighed quietly, shaking his head and looking up again. "Sorry about landin' on you." He said awkwardly. "I... didn't know I hitcha that badly..."

"I'm better," Tala assured as the nub weed pack worked.

"I said Toa aren't graceful healing." Pohatu chuckled.

Stringer fidgeted a little. "I know, but I... I didn't know I hit her that hard, that's all. Not really fond o' dealin' damage like that to my friends."

Tala shifted on the berth like slab and extended her left arm out to Stringer, clawed fingers closer to offer her knuckles. "It's all good." She said, repeating a phrase from before that Stringer had said on the trip over.

Stringer blinked once when she reached out, seeming a little hesitant before offering a weak smile and nodding. "Yeah, I... I suppose so..." He paused before adding in overblown, comedic style worthy of any Le-Matoran, complete with mild arm flailing. "Just don't badscare me like that! Why didn't you saytell you were in that badpainful a way anyways? I just about blewbroke a circuitfuse!"

Bulk paused, glanced at Lewa and Pohatu, and burst out laughing.

Tala blinked slowly at him, confused before smiling at hearing treespeak outside of spoken Matoran. The other two Toa looked confused at the words they couldn't understand yet. "I'm a Toa Stringer. That's why. We are hope as much as guardians. So it's habit to hide pain- and it didn't hurt as much as the setting Lewa just did."

"Yeah, but... but... oh forget it." He sighed and just shook his head, seeming to return back to his normal self. "I'm glad you're alright, Tala. Guess I should get used to things being rough n' tumble for you; gotta share the whole hero duty thing now that I'm here." He grinned awkwardly.

Bulk couldn't help but laugh even more when he saw the expressions on the other two Toa's faces. He couldn't help it really, it was just too funny. After a little while he got himself pulled together though... other than the occasional snicker.

"Time for Ko-Gi to rest in a coldburr Suva," Lewa said once judging it calmed down, "She needs time to charge and healing in her temple."

"I agree," Tala yawned as the frost vanish, the energy keeping it vanishing and the heat of the desert warmed temple settling back into the room slowly.

Stringer paused to think on that before figuring out. "So... that means she's leaving... right?" He didn't sound eager for her to leave or to stay; he merely wanted to know what was going on so he wasn't too confused.

"To a different part of the Suva," Pohatu stepped over to help his sister up and supporting her. "Might get too cold for you."

Stringer nodded. "I'm fine staying out of the cold. Not updated for freezy stuff." He shrugged slightly. "Stormer's usually the one to face the icy climates for some reason."

Lewa tilted his head and shrugged, "Ko-gi and Ko-tu are better suited for those wahi." The translation stones shifted that as 'ice sister' and 'ice brother' and his tone said he didn't like being in the cold.

"Makes sense." Stringer responded, taking note of what the words meant. "Stormer's usually one to use an ice weapon, so he'd probably get along in their preferred area just fine. I'll stick to the warm climates and leave it be."

"She'll be better in a few days," Pohatu promised the mechs as he started to move with Tala at her pace, "I'll meet you back in the Koro Bulk to finish going over the Po-Energy you have now."

The silver and gold mech gave a small salute, and a grin. "Sounds like a plan to me. We'll just get outta your way for now." And with that, he snagged hold of Stringer, and started off, pausing at the doorway to turn back and say to Tala. "Get better soon, yeah? I want to hear how annoying Stringer was on the way here." It wasn't hard to guess he was trying to crack a joke, or at least attempt to make the mood light.

Tala hummed and tossed a salute to the silver mech with two fingers, "promise."

Bulk grinned again. "I look forward to it then." And with that, and an awkward wave from Stringer, the two mechs vanished from sight.


End file.
